The Kingdom of God

There have been and continue to be a lot of voices speaking about the ruthless murder/assassination of Charlie Kirk in Utah this past Wednesday. As tends to be the case in our culture, news channels and social media feeds immediately began to explode with in your face coverage and opinions from every person with a cell phone, keyboard, or microphone. Many people spoke out of anger, some spoke out of a sick sense of joy, others with tears and sadness. I think many people were just trying to process their thoughts live on the air. Most of us just sat back quietly asking God, “Why?” Different people process their emotions in many different ways. The question we all must ask and answer though is, “What is God doing to accomplish His will and continue moving us towards the coming kingdom?”

In our EQUIP the Church class this week, we are studying the Kingdom of God, simply defined as, “God establishing His kingdom through His presence with His people in His place as they live out His purposes.” I didn’t follow Charlie Kirk that closely, but like most of you, I’ve certainly seen His debates on social media. Based upon his words and his defense of the Bible, I believe he was used by God to proclaim and defend the good news of the Gospel of Jesus to our world in a very special way. Not many people have the ability and the platform to do what Charlie did. I agree that he was martyred for his faith. I believe that any time a faithful man or woman of God rises up to proclaim the gospel, there will be evil opposition that arises to defeat or distract, in an attempt to keep that voice from being heard. Here’s the thing though… while his voice may have been silenced, the message Charlie Kirk proclaimed of Christ and Him crucified and resurrected for you and I to have life cannot be silenced. I know that many people knew of Charlie Kirk because of his involvement in politics, but he should be remembered for his proclamation of the gospel.

So, what do we do? What do you do? Having intentionally taken a few days to soak everything in and hear what people are saying, I believe that most Christians are wondering, “What can I do to make sure the message Charlie proclaimed doesn’t die?” Well, the answer is found in the Great Commission, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.”

And you are probably saying to yourself, “Yeah. I get that, but what does that look like specifically in my life? I’m not Charlie Kirk, I can’t stand up and defend the gospel like he did. I don’t have the platform he had, where would I even do that if I could?”

Paul wrote to the Corinthian church answering these very same kinds of questions. In 1 Corinthians 7:17–20, Paul wrote:

“Let each one live his life in the situation the Lord assigned when God called him. This is what I command in all the churches. Was anyone already circumcised when he was called? He should not undo his circumcision. Was anyone called while uncircumcised? He should not get circumcised. Circumcision does not matter and uncircumcision does not matter. Keeping God’s commands is what matters. Let each of you remain in the situation in which he was called.”

Everywhere you are, keep His commands. Live your life in the situation you were in when He saved you. You don’t have to be on a church staff to proclaim the gospel in every area of your life. If you don’t know what God has commanded us, learn. If you can’t tell someone what you know, practice. I think we make it more complicated than it actually is… or perhaps we’re just making excuses. Here’s what I have observed over my five years in vocational ministry. There are a whole lot of folks out there who are sitting on the sidelines. They get riled up when things like this happen, but many, if not most of them, never take any action to do anything. I believe that in this moment, there are a whole lot of Christians that have been sitting on the sidelines, who are asking right now, “What can I do?” If all those folks wait on someone else to hold their hand and begin doing what God has already commanded us to do, in just a few short weeks, they’ll be sitting back comfortably on the sidelines waiting on the next thing to rile them up. What will it be for you?

The good news of the Gospel of Jesus is the power for salvation… it is the power to transform your life to be more like Jesus… it is the power to change the world for the better. The big question is, do you truly believe that? If so, then do what you need to do to get in the game. God is with you, present in His people. Wherever you are, in His place. He is accomplishing His purposes through His people in His place, and He is with you always even until the end of this age.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Bo

While some of us tend to be too independent, many people have an unhealthy dependence on others. If we were to map out your dependence on others, where would it fall? Are you a loner or are you codependent?

When we look at the church and consider what community should look like, we definitely see a dependence upon one another (Acts 4:32–35). However, there is also a clear expectation to provide for yourself and your own family (1 Timothy 5:8). In light of those two passages, how do you know when you are getting it right? While I may not be able to solve that dilemma today, we can know how dependent we should be on God for all things in our lives.

Jesus said many things about prayer during His ministry, and we should certainly read and study them. However, I think it may be just as important for us to observe His actions surrounding prayer. The following observations were adapted from an article by Robert Velarde, who is an author and theologian. The article can be found through this link: https://www.focusonthefamily.com/faith/learning-from-the-prayer-life-of-jesus/ 

When we observe the prayer life of Jesus, what do we see?

1. Jesus prayed for others. He prayed for the little children, He prayed for His disciples as He was about to ascend into Heaven, and He prayed for those who were driving the nails through His hands into the cross.
2. Jesus prayed with others. He took Peter, James, and John up on the Mount of Transfiguration to pray. He took His disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane and asked them to join Him in prayer.
3. Jesus prayed alone. When facing big decisions and even in the midst of the busyness of His ministry, Jesus took time to get alone and go to His Father in prayer.
4. Jesus prayed regularly. When illustrating Jesus's frequency of prayer, Luke used the word "often" (Luke 5:16). There was a pattern to Jesus's frequency of praying... He did it with regularity, not just when He had a perceived need, but on a regular basis.
5. Jesus prayed like He knew the Father intimately.  Primarily because He did know the Father intimately. We see a pattern of Jesus praying like He knew who He was praying to... like He was having a heart-to-heart conversation. There was never a distant, cold feeling when Jesus prayed to God the Father.
6. Jesus prayed based on His knowledge of God and the truths of His Word. Jesus knew who the Father was and when He prayed, it was with the truths that had been revealed about God. In other words, Jesus approached prayer with a biblical world-view.
7. Jesus prayed knowing that all of His prayers would not be answered. Think of Jesus in the garden. He asked for the cup (God's wrath that would be poured out upon Him) to be taken away from Him. We know He knows because He finished that prayer with these words, "Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done."

So, what does all of that mean for us? And what does it have to do with us being "Prayerfully Dependent" as a Covenant Member of Mount Carmel Baptist Church. Perhaps this question will help. If Jesus felt the need to pray and prayed often, do you and I need to pray and pray often? We both know the answer to that question is, "Of course we do!"

When we pray the way Jesus prayed, we are showing that we recognize our need to be led by, provided for, comforted through, and corrected by means of our prayers to God. Think of praying as both surrender and dependence. We are confessing that we cannot do life in our own strength (independence), and admitting that God is uniquely able to provide for us by placing our trust in Him to do so (surrender).

Here is what we say about being prayerfully dependent in our covenant:

The word, humble, is something we don't often use about ourselves. True humility seeks to bring glory and honor to God and looks out for the interest of others. Our human nature does not naturally point us towards humility, but pride or selfishness. Paul would not have had to command us to "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others." (Philippians 2:3–4). The greatest example of humility we have is Jesus. He willingly went to the cross and gave up His life as the payment for our sin. So, when we say a "humble dependence" on God, that means that you fully submit and surrender your life to Him. You depend on Him to provide everything and guide you in everything.

As a church, we go to the Father, just as Christ did. We pray with each other, for each other, when we are alone, throughout each day, like we have intimate knowledge of who he is, based on the truths we see in the Scriptures, and we depend on Him to give us exactly what we need, not want, whenever we ask. Knowing that He alone is capable and He alone is faithful. This creates a trust amongst the Body of Christ when we see each other humbly dependent upon God for all things in our lives. I believe that God is honored by His people surrendering to Him in total dependence and that He will pour out blessings and give us strength and courage to do all that He has commanded when we are prayerfully dependent.

I would love to hear from you and/or answer any questions you may have. Please feel free to leave your thoughts or comments here, or reach out by sending me a text or email.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Bo

Many of you know of our Church Membership Covenant. However, you may not know what is in it or what it means to be a member of Mount Carmel. I've gone to church on a very regular basis for nearly my entire adult life, but until a few years ago, I truly had no idea what it meant to be a member of a church. Sure, I knew there was such a thing... I even was one, but I had never given it much more thought other than hearing the preacher say that you should join the church.

If you know my story, you know that until 2017ish, I was a career Publix guy. Not a pastor. Which unfortunately meant that I had never given much thought to things like church membership. I just did what I was told and became one. However, one of the first Wednesday night studies we did at Mount Carmel after I became the pastor there was based on the book by Dean Inserra, The Unsaved Christian. In that book, Dean told of a new members class he gave at the church he planted in Tallahassee, FL. A lady asked him a question that I am assuming sent him barreling down the same path I have now gone down. She asked him, "What changes on Monday if I join the church and become a member on Sunday?"

So, what does change, or does anything change? Out of this question came our Covenant Agreement. The Mount Carmel Covenant Agreement outlines what it looks like to BE a member of the body of Christ at our church. In the first part of this series, I hope to further explain the very first tenant of our covenant, being "Biblically Oriented".

Let me first say that you can be biblically oriented outside of membership at Mount Carmel. However, you are expected to be biblically oriented when you are a member at Mount Carmel. It is quite possibly the most foundational of all the tenants contained in our covenant. Here's why, when you view everything through the lens of the Scriptures, you will be rightly oriented towards God and His people.

Here is what we say about being biblically oriented in our covenant:

This is an action statement. It isn't enough to just read God's Word or know God's Word, you must be surrendered to following it and committed to consuming it, allowing every area of your life to be conformed to the Word. In God's Word, we find truth. Jesus said in John 17, "I have given them your word. The world hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I am not praying that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth." We are sanctified by the Word of God. Our lives cannot remain the same when we surrender and commit to God's Word. Our lives are changed, we are transformed, the old is gone and the new has come. The Bible is the greatest way God has given us to see who He is and what He expects from us in our lives. Jesus has sent us into the world to show who He is and we find out who He is by consuming His Word. Why wouldn't we want to start there when it comes to gathering together as brothers and sisters in the church?

"That all sounds great," you may be saying, "but how exactly do I become biblically oriented?" I'm glad you asked. Read God's Word! Listen to God's Word be read! Study God's Word! Join together with other like-minded individuals and discuss God's Word! Go to a church that preaches the gospel, preferably in an expositional manner, and consume God's Word! Find songs that are rich in Scripture and listen to them! Find the Scriptures from the song lyrics in the Bible and read them! Then, do what you read, hear, study, discuss, and consume... and do that together with other people who have committed themselves as part of the local church you are a part of.

Here is what happens when you gather together with other followers of Jesus and you know that they too have committed and promised themselves to following Jesus the same way you do. It will give you confidence that those brothers and sisters will be there standing beside you through thick and thin. You can have confidence that they will truly intercede on your behalf to God when things aren't going so well. You can have confidence that they will be right beside you to celebrate your victories and triumphs. They can know, with confidence, that you will do the same for them. That's what changes when you become a member at Mount Carmel.

I would love to hear your feedback or answer your questions. Feel free to leave a comment here or send me a message.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Bo

In this past week’s sermon introduction I presented the difference between being a student and being a disciple. A student wants to learn what the teacher knows, while a disciple learns what the teacher knows and does so with the intention of becoming like the teacher. In other words, they “follow” the teacher. As Christ followers, our intention should be, or perhaps must be, to become more like Christ as we learn from Him.

Believe it or not, everything we do at Mount Carmel is done to assist in this process, the process of discipleship. There is a vision to create disciples that make disciples here at Mount Carmel that leads to everything we do. Many times, this leads us to do things that may be different from what you’re used to doing at church. For instance, we stopped having Life Groups in what used to be the Sunday School hour to make room for new forms of discipleship like D-Groups and EQUIP classes. We began things like Home Groups to create community amongst the church. This community definitely creates friendships, but the intention is to create unity amongst the body and people who have influence in each others lives as they walk through life together. This creates accountability amongst the body of Christ, which leads us to greater faithfulness and obedience.

These things take effort on your part and require you to be invested in those around you who call themselves followers of Jesus. And you know what, it isn’t always easy, but if easy is the goal in church, are you really a follower of Jesus? What is commonly referred to as the Seeker Movement makes it “easy” to be a part of a church. The idea is to create an environment that never requires anything of you other than attendance and funding the mission. It’s difficult to create an environment where true discipleship is happening. Listen to this quote from author David Wells about the Seeker Movement

I want everyone who calls themselves a covenant member of Mount Carmel to know is exactly what the vision is. The vision for discipleship at Mount Carmel is for each of us to become a disciple as defined by the Bible… but what exactly does the Bible say about being a disciple? Well, we don’t have to go any farther than what is referred to as the Great Commission, Matthew 28:18-20.

Jesus said to make disciples by baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He went on to say here’s what you do with them… teach them to obey all that He commanded. But what exactly did He command? Making a disciple is teaching a person to:

1.) Believe His Doctrine (Matthew 10:24)
2.) Rest On His Sacrifice (Luke 14:26, 27, 33)
3.) Assimilate to His Spirit (John 6:69)
4.) Imitate His Example (Matthew 20:26–28; 1 Peter 2:21)

Ultimately, the example of Christ stems from Him dying for us. Jesus served others throughout His entire ministry. The thought I want to leave you with is one I recently read in a book about discipleship. The author asked if you’ve ever watched pigs feed. As soon as the farmer shows up with the food, they are pushing each other out of the way to get fed… they’re snorting around and fighting with one another. Their entire focus is on themselves and getting the food the farmer puts in their trough.

Then, he asked the question. When you came to church last Sunday, compare for yourself… were you more like a pig being fed or were you more like Jesus? I’m not calling you a pig, but which one were you like? Where did you park? How early did you get there? Who did you talk to? Where did you sit? What did you do while you were there? Did you complain about anything like the AC, the bulletin, or the music? Every one of those questions presents you with an opportunity to serve others or serve yourself. Which one was it?

Becoming a disciple takes effort on your part. You need to ask two questions. How can you disciple others in the church, and how can you be a disciple? The model disciple is Jesus. How did He disciple others, and how did He serve them?

Why Pastors Become Discouraged
I've had this conversation several times in the last couple of months. There is a perception that pastors are discouraged a lot I guess... perhaps that's true, but not for the reason(s) you would think. Many people ask how difficult it is to preach and not have anyone respond immediately. That's actually really easy to deal with. We trust in God's sovereignty and know that His word always does what He sent it out to accomplish. So, why are many pastors discouraged?

The difficulty comes not when people aren't saved or receive salvation immediately following a sermon, although seeing people surrender their lives to God's call with everything they are is truly awesome. I think I can speak for many pastors in saying this, the frustration and discouragement that follows, comes when those who claim to be followers of Christ don't do it. As I was preparing for this week's sermon, I came across this quote from Charles Spurgeon's commentary on Philippians 4:1.

You see, your pastor's joy comes from the Lord and serving Him in the way he was called, which mens that they equip you for the work of the ministry, expose the work of the evil one around you, and call you to a life of faithful obedience. When he sees those he shepherds follow the voice of Jesus, who said in John 10, "The sheep follow Him because they know his voice. They will never follow a stranger; instead they will run away from him, because they don't know the voice of strangers," he knows that you are in good hands rather than in danger.

Your pastor wants you to have abundant life, not to become entangled in the schemes of the one who seeks only to steal, kill, and destroy. So, when he sees those who claim to know Christ go down a path that leads you away from Him, not into His protection, we become discouraged. At that point, it seems like our work is in vein. It feels like no one is listening and the efforts of our lives are pointless. Admittedly, these feelings can show a lack of dependence on God to work in the lives of those in the body. However, the fact remains that watching someone who calls themselves a follower of Jesus, do or say things to others in the same body, that hurts the pastors heart because it breaks God's heart.

Rather than having the joy of seeing believers grow and reflect Jesus to a lost and dying world as they build one another up, the heartache of seeing hurt and brokenness drains the life from the pastor. My encouragement to you today is this: learn the voice of the Shepherd, listen to Him, faithfully follow Him, and the peace of the Lord will be with you... and your pastor.