A knock at midnight

On February 4, 1968, these resounding words were heard at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia:

If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long… Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school… say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won’t have any money to leave behind. I won’t have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that’s all I want to say.

Today, is the birthday of a man who so eloquently spoke those words. I wanted to honor his memory, his trials, his triumphs, and his accomplishments. The reluctant dreamer who dared to speak out against injustice, who dared to trod into hostile and violent territories for [racial] equality, who dared to preach hope for the hopeless.

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered many speeches and sermons in his short time in the national spotlight. Certainly, his words will be forever enshrined in print, audio, and even electronic materials. I have been to the mountaintop, I Have a Dream, Beyond Vietnam, How Long Not Long, are only a few titles was well known speeches and sermons delivered by him. Each of them are inspiring with a very sharp edge if you are paying attention. I think about the world in which we now live – some 84 years after his birth – there is one speech by Dr. King is both timely and powerful.

The sermon was called “A Knock at Midnight” and it is about the parable in Luke 11:5-6 where a lonely traveler knocks at someone’s door around the midnight hour to ask for food for a friend. What would you do? Dr. King says,

“It is also midnight within the moral order. At midnight colors lose their distinctiveness and become a sullen shade of gray. Moral principles have lost their distinctiveness. For modern man, absolute right and wrong are a matter of what the majority is doing. Right and wrong are relative to likes and dislikes…”

In listening to the words of this sermon, I could not help but think how prophetic he was. His words are still very relavent today and I want to leave you words he spoke that night that should stir something deep within our souls today.

If the church does not recapture its prophetic zeal, it will become an irrelevant social club without moral or spiritual authority….But if the church will free itself from the shackles of a deadening status quo, and, recovering its great historic mission, will speak and act fearlessly and insistently in terms of justice and peace, it will enkindle the imagination of mankind and fire the souls of men, imbuing them with a glowing and ardent love for truth, justice, and peace.

Listen to the full sermon here or watch a clip below

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JFLjwAYHks]

Focusing on First things

With the Presidential campaigns ramping up and everyone seemingly running to there respective corners to point fingers at the other guy and I wonder how we continually miss the point. June 28, 2012 is a day that will go down historically without much of a fight but that day you might have thought the world ended. That was the day the the Supreme Court of the U.S. rendered its decision on President Obama’s healthcare mandates. Some screamed “It’s the end of liberty!” while others ” It’s the beginning of freedom!” and really either way you sliced it, the court’s ruling was momentous, but does it really change reality? People will continue to be born and die daily. You can argue whether the rate will increase or decrease here in the U.S. but that is just reality. What surprised me is “Christ-followers” publicly showed more care and concern about Chief Justice John Roberts’ conservative credentials more that we do about Christ’s Kingdom advancing in our local context. We consistently seem to have more concern for the things of this world and not any focus on the first things.
That last statement is one that has plagued my mind as I try to write sermon and shepherd people of our church I want focus on the 1st things of Christ and His kingdom. I wonder if this is true for you also. Think about it as you listen to this Sunday night sermon.

**Update: I will be preaching this upcoming Sunday morning August 26, 2012 at our 9:15a and 10:45a (CST) services. Please click here follow to watch the whole service live at those times**

Preach the Gospel to yourself!

A few weeks ago I once again received a call to join the staff at Concord Baptist Church. Soon after moving to Jefferson City and beginning my tenure here I was asked to preach on a Sunday night service. Given the nature of this pastorate I jumped at this opportunity. Much like last time I preached found myself not feeling comfortable with any of the subjects that came to mind for to preach. You see, for me, if I am going into an environment where I do not necessarily know/ understand the culture I try to prayerfully seek a subject that the Spirit leads me to say, and this time it interesting. As I was walking through the halls of the church hearing, shaking babies and kissing hands I began to hear some Christianeese (or the language that is spoken in churches that isn’t always translatable anywhere else). The phrase that I heard was the famous “Preach the Gospel and if you have to use words”, attributed to St. Francis of Assisi which I blogged about here. At that moment the Father spoke to my heart and I had to change my subject. In order to finish this message I found a new haunt (Coffeezone) in downtown and plodded away until I was finished. This sermon was for not only for me but as I soon found out for many people in the attending audience. I pray that it is half of the blessing it was to me in preparing it.

Change

** Sorry this post may be a bit long**

The only thing constant in my family’s life is change. Over the last 3 years of my life my family and I have experienced immense change in our life.

So what’s involved in changing something up?

C = Calculation

If a change is going to be made I believe some time must be spent investigating the possible outcomes that will be associated with it. Some of the biggest mistakes I’ve made as a leader have been changing something without thinking it through.

H = Hesitation

When it comes to changing something that we’ve established…we always hesitate. Don’t get me wrong, I think pausing before making the change is healthy…however, when hesitation turns into an excuse to delay the obvious…problems WILL occur.

A = Anticipate Resistance

The very first reaction to change will always be some sort of resistance. As I leader I am coming more and more to understand that the first question a person runs through their mind when change is introduced is, “How is thing going to impact me?” And…if they detect that it may impact them in any negative sort of way…their natural tendency is to resist.

N = Necessary

Change is SO necessary! That statement was EASY to accept when we first began because we were changing the ways that other people did things; however, in the past couple of years or so it has become a sobering reality that the changes that are necessary are things we once thought of as edgy and innovative…which ISN’T easy…but, like I said…is necessary.

G = God Factor

What changes are God telling you to make? This could be personal…or even church wide. I know that He’s been speaking into me very directly lately and telling me some personal changes that I need to make in regards to the ways I lead myself and His church. God isn’t a dull God…and so following Him should never be either. He isn’t telling me the “why’s” right now…just the “what’s”…and getting comfortable with that has been an adjustment…but a good one!

E = Expectation

Whenever God leads us to change–we can expect fruit to come out of it. (See John 15:4-5) I have found myself getting way to nervous in the past when God leads me to change something when, in reality, I have NEVER screwed anything up by simply being completely obedient to Him–even when that includes MAJOR change.

That being said, I wanted to tell you of the upcoming changes in the Nelson family. I so am happy and overwhelmed to inform you all that I have accepted the 2 year Residency/ Internship at Concord Baptist Church (CBC) in Jefferson City, MO. This will be an amazing opportunity for me as I will have the opportunity to learn from someone who has been in a Senior Leadership position for over 20 years and is willing to train me along with Concord’s wonderful staff. I will also begin working toward my 1st Masters degree while we are there. This all begins at the beginning of June, which means that our family will be moving in a very short 7 weeks (or so). Though I will miss the restaurant life I am really looking forward to a new rhythm for our family, like being home at least some nights of the week. Furthermore, it will difficult to leave our church family at Blue Valley Baptist Church, family, and friends that have held us up in SO many ways the last 3 years including praying with us as we sought a position like this one. Almost 3 years ago I left Westside Family Church (WFC) as a pastor on staff. The was one of the most difficult transitions that I have ever made as WFC was where I came to Christ, the only church that my wife and I had attended at the time together, had our 1st child, my 1st Pastoral position and much more. I left WFC with the intend of completing my education and while serving at local church, yet our Father has had markedly different plans. Over the last 3 years God has shown Himself to me and my family in ways that I would not have fathomed before this. He has continually proven time and again that He is a God of details and He has proven to be alive and well in our life each step of the way and I pray that this blog has reflected this reality. I will look back on this time as opportunity that God has used to grow me, shape me, and clarify the vision He has for our life. Thank you each so much for caring about us and praying for us. This is not the end of this blog but the beginning of a new chapter. As we work out all the details of a move, please pray (especially for my wife) in this transition as she can take a long time to feel settle into new surroundings.

Finally, I wanted to provide you with some audio from my sermon at CBC’s Sunday night service back on March 25th. The sermon is entitled: “The offer on the table” and I pray you are as blessed in hearing it as I was in preaching it.

When life is not fair

A few weeks ago I once again received a call to come back to Park Hill Baptist Church. This church asked me to fill in the pulpit again as they continued the search for an Interim Pastor and eventually a new Senior Pastor. Much like last time I found myself not feeling comfortable with any of the subjects that came to mind for to preach. You see, for me, if I am going into an environment I have never been to before, and possibly will not return to, I try to prayerfully seek a subject that the Spirit leads me to say, and this time it was a doozy. Once again, I traveled back to my pastoral study (aka BlackDog Coffeehouse) and prayed until the Father answered. This sermon was for me and as I soon found out for many people in the attending audience. I pray that it is half of the blessing it was to me in preparing it. Maybe this will give you an idea of where I am going with this sermon:

“Life is not fair. Good people have to die early. There are people that waste money like water, and there are other people who struggle to pay for their parents hospital bills. There are people that spend thousands of dollars on a vacation, and there are other people working three jobs to make ends meet. The funny part is people that spent thousands of dollars on vacation wouldn’t pay for their children’s tuition, and people that working three jobs wants to pay for their children’s tuition. How sad…Life is not fair. And it never will be. What’s the point of life anyway? See the injustice and then you die, painfully.”

Below you will find both audio and video versions of the sermon “Patience in the fires of life” (Malachi 2:17 – 3:7a). Please enjoy!

Audio:

[audio https://somajc.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/patience-in-the-fires-of-life-malachi-2_17-3_7a.mp3]

Video:

Video: Poor audio quality

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/38177824]

4 World-views that rule our world

A few weeks ago I received a call out of the blue. Park Hill Baptist Church‘s pastor of 28 years had retired and was looking for some people to fill in there pulpit while they began the search for an Interim Pastor and eventually a new Senior Pastor. I was overwhelmed by the invite but I quickly obliged. Over the next week I did not feel comfortable with any of the subjects that came to mind for to preach. You see, for me, if I am going into an environment I have never been to before, and possibly will not return to, I try to prayerfully seek a subject that the Spirit leads me to say. This is NOT said in anyway as a swipe to those pastors who use the same or similar messages for different venues, in some ways I envy you. After a rather interesting conversation with a barista at Blackdog Coffee house (aka my place for sermon prep), I found myself framing a few basic world-views that most people fall into.

Religious world-view: Which says, that there is a god, whoever he or she is, that must be appeased through a series of actions. So there are things that we do and do not do in order to curry favor with that god and to somehow get eternal life when we die.

Secular world-view: says, that there is no god, there are no forces, there is no energy; there is simply us and what we make of it.

Spiritual world-view: Which is different from a religious world-view. The spiritual world-view says there’s probably not a god, but there are forces driving things. Maybe that force is karma, maybe the universe itself is driving, but we need to tap into those spiritual realities and be aware of them to milk out of life all that we want.

Gospel centered world-view: Is really simply living in such a way that this gospel is central. Thus when any kind of a situation arises we can say, “How does the gospel apply to this situation?” When I am dealing with a particular sin or temptation I can ask, “How can I apply the gospel to this sin?” When I am confused about parenting, how I am to raise my children, I can ask, “What does the gospel tell me about my task in parenting?” The primary reality of the Christian life is this one: Christ died for our sins and was raised. Thus everything else flows out of that gospel and every question is answered in reference to it.

I’ll be honest, after the conversation and as I looked back over my life the Gospel centered world-view has not dominated my thinking and movement through my life. This realization was humbling and encouraging and the sermon turned out to be more of a reminder of just how faithful our Father as been throughout my life. My prayer is that as you listen to this message you prayerfully apply what is said and examine yourself.

Below you will find both audio and video versions of the sermon, please enjoy!

How the Gospel saved my life!

Audio:

Romans 5:1 – 11