You Can’t Make It Alone

Posted by MikeW on Jan 26, 2012 in Pastor Post-Its | 0 comments

“Dear Self,

Let me be direct. You are not strong enough, or spiritual enough to successfully follow Jesus and be faithful to his mission on your own. The words recorded in Genesis, ‘It is not good for man to be alone,’ speak not only to the issue of marriage but also to a very basic need all people have. We are created by God to dwell in community. You have been considering your need to both hear and speak biblical exhortation in community, but you also need to consider that the mission of Jesus, which you have been called to participate in, is carried out only through the church.

Consider the mission of the church: ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you’ (Matt. 28:19-20). The mission is to make disciples; and to make disciples, one must be a disciple. In both of these callings the church is essential to the work.

To be a disciple of Jesus you must belong to and work with, for, and through the local church. You need the strengthening, encouragement, and reproof that only the church can give, and you need the church to be faithful to the command of Jesus. God calls his followers to live in community together, loving, serving, sharing, and discipling one another. The church, for all of its faults, is essentially connected to God’s mission and our spiritual life. You simply cannot survive spiritually on a weekly worship service, podcasts, and books. You need the community more than you probably realize. You can’t make it alone; nor can anyone else.”

This is taken from the book Note to Self: The Discipline of Preaching to Yourself by Joe Thorn, pages 87-88. I highly recommend this little book as a devotional aid.

Some Common Grace Insight

Posted by MikeW on Jan 3, 2012 in Pastor Post-Its | 0 comments

A friend recently shared a great little list of leadership goals for 2012. It comes from Forbes magazine. I appreciate that family tops the list of a business success magazine’s New Year’s resolutions! Check it out at the link below.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikemyatt/2011/12/22/5-leadership-focus-areas-for-2012/

Series of Posts on Work

Posted by MikeW on Apr 4, 2011 in Pastor Post-Its | 0 comments

Check out this great little series of posts on a theology of work:

http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2011/03/20/what-are-you-called-to-do-a-theology-of-work/

Recent Presbytery Sermon

Posted by MikeW on Feb 25, 2011 in Pastor Post-Its | 0 comments

At our last Presbytery meeting, we were happy to have Sandy Willson from 2nd Pres. in Memphis as our guest preacher.  The sermon was one of the best I’ve heard on leadership within the church.  He specifically addressed ruling elders often.  Follow the link below to listen to the sermon:

The Beauty of Biblical Justice

Posted by MikeW on Feb 15, 2011 in Pastor Post-Its | 0 comments

Fabric, threads, involvements–over, under, around, and through–that’s how you do justice. An article by Timothy Keller on byFaithOnline Click here to read the article.