Mexico Mission Trip Reminder

Don't forget about our mission trip meeting this Sunday at 5:oopm (3/2/08). If you are interested at all in the trip you need to try and be there. We will discuss the location, date, transportation, activities, and anything else that you can think of to ask.

There are basically three ways to be involved with missions:

1. Going - This is the most basic form of mission involvement. These are the people who go out into the world whether abroad or in your neighborhood to reach lost people for Christ. These people not necessarily any more righteous than people who don't "go." They are just the ones that God has called to the front lines.

2. Sending - This group of people is just as important as the first. Without "senders," missions would not happen. These are the people who give to make missions possible. There are several ways you can give: (A) Money - God calls some people to give money in order to make missions possible. (B) Prayer - This is the most important way to help "send" missionaries. We need as much prayer as we can get, both before we go and while we are there. (C) Time - You can also send by helping get things done here, whether it be a fund raiser or some other project. Many times people have the attitude that the people going are solely responsible for raising all of their funds and making the trip happen. This is simply unbiblical. Paul's missionary journeys were actually offering collections for the missions going on in Jerusalem. If you are not called to "go," then "send" us.

3. Disobedient - I know this sounds harsh, but it is the truth. We are the body of Christ. We work together. There is not other option. No member can stand alone and should never be expected to. God has called us to action. Either you "go" or "send." There is no other option. Pray that God would give you direction and discernment as pray about your role in this mission opportunity as well as all other missions our church is engaged in.

5:00pm, Sunday, March 2. Don't forget.

Bryan Cirlot

U.S. Goverment in Numbers

We had a discussion in one of my seminary classes this morning about the meaning of the Torah for Christians. We went over a lot of different issues, but one of the rabbit trails led us to an interesting concept found in the book of Numbers. This Old Testament book usually gets a bad rap for being the hardest one to read, but many of the great wilderness wandering stories come from this book.

In chapter 15, Moses is going over some more laws for the people of God. Remember, all of these laws come directly from God. In Numbers 15:15, Moses said, "As for the the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the alien who sojourns with you, a perpetual statute throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the alien be before the Lord" (NASB).

The Lord declared that His people would treat the alien with the same laws and the same statues and the same guidelines as the people of Israel. There would be equal rights for all. Race was not considered, nor any other factor. All people who lived in the land would be treated equally. Perhaps one of the chief reasons this country has succeeded on many fronts is because of the Mosaic Law-based concepts on which we stand.

Bryan Cirlot

God's Sovereignty in Election

Last Wednesday night we talked about the tension between God's election and man's responsibility. I stumbled across an interesting and short article about the same issue on DesiringGod's website today. I thought you might find it a helpful.

When the Bible Blows Your Mind

Sharing the Gospel in Our Community

I'm sure that nearly everyone at our church can at least paraphrase the Great Commission. "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen" (Matthew 28:19-20 KJV). Why the King James? I have been in church long enough to know that this is about the only way this verse ever gets quoted.

We always hear this resounding call with in these words to "Go!" That's why we do outreach the way we do in most Baptist circles. It looks like this. We meet on Tuesday nights to go visit church prospects to invite them to church and possibly even share the gospel with them. Generally speaking, this technique works. Most churches that implement a visitation program see growth in the church body, both spiritually and numerically. There is a better way, however.

If you were to look at the Great Commission and circle the imperatives (the commands) I bet you would circle "go" and "teach," at least in the KJV. Therefore, we generally understand the "commission" in the terms of "going" and "teaching." And honestly, we focus most of our attention on the "go." Herein lies the problem in our evangelistic outreach. We think primarily in terms of going instead of in terms of teaching.

This is why i love studying the Bible in its original languages instead of in the English. The word "go" in this verse is not even a verb. It is a participle. To put that in redneck, it isn't "go", it's "goin". It is not an imperative (command) at all. More acurately, the verse is saying, "as you are going." The expression carries the idea of living your daily routine. As you go to work. As you go to the grocery store. As you drive your car. To smooth out the translation, I would likely say, "as you live." This makes the great commission begin, "As you live, teach all nations..."

This brings us to the only imperative in the verse, "teach." This is probably best translated as "make disciples." This does carry to the idea of teaching, but it puts a more personal spin on it. It is the same basic Greek word used to describe the disciples of Jesus in the New Testament. We knew from Scripture that Jesus was not impersonal with His disciples. He did not simply stand up and preach to people he did not also share intimate relationships with. When the Great Commission tells us to make disciples, it is not telling us to simply get the word out about the sacrifice of Jesus for the sins of the world. The verse is telling us to make disciples of the people of all nations. Jesus has given us the command to engage people in their everyday lives.

"As you live, engage the world with My Gospel." God wants us to live the Gospel. This is what we are going to do at Cambridge Baptist Church. We are going to live the Gospel. We are going to engage our city, our community, out work places, our families, or streets, our neighbors with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In future blogs and sermons I will flesh out what i mean. Be prepared. If we live the Gospel, we will never be the same. Are you ready?

Bro. Bryan

Mexico Mission Trip

We will be having a Mexico mission trip meeting on March 2nd at 5:00pm in the fellowship hall. If you are interested in going to Mexico at all, you need to try to make it to this meeting. We will be discussing a date for the trip and need as much input as we can get so the trip can be available to the most people.

We will be taking the trip to Casa Hogar. This is an orphanage that currently houses around 150 children ranging in ages from toddler to high school graduate. Anna and I have been several times over the last five years. It will be an excellent opportunity to see God at work. There is a link to their website on the right column. Go check it out.

Bro. Bryan

My Personal Mission Statement

Those of you who were on the Pastor Search Committee are probably the only people who have seen my mission statement. I believe that in a general sense, all of us have the same mission and purpose in life. We exist to glorify God in life and in death -- in life by making every decision and every action and every thought count for the Kingdom of God, in death by spending eternity worshiping our creator. All believers have the same mission. All believers seek the same end. Each of us are called out to achieve this is deferent ways, however. This is where spiritual gifts come in. Each of us has a different function in the body of Christ. I do not have any doubt what called has called me to do. I exist to teach the word of God. Therefore, I wrote a mission statement that i believe accurately conveys where my heart is on this matter. My mission is...

"to cultivate within hearts of the people of God, a hunger for the knowledge of God by the proclamation, explanation, and demonstration of the Word of God calling people to joy in God resounding to the glory of God."

I know that it is wordy. But every part of it has a specific implication that I felt needed to be included. The purpose of having a mission statement is to spell out direction and purpose as specifically as possible so that there is no question about the goal and character of my ministry. Therefore, each of these pieces make up what I believe to be the reason I exist.

To cultivate...
I pulled this idea from Paul. In his letter to the Corinthians, he is dealing with a problem in he church over people claiming to be connected to specific apostles. In chapter 3, he says, "I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth" (v. 6 NASB). The point is that both Paul and Apollos worked toward the harvest, but only God caused the plants to grow. My heart's desire is to serve God by teaching His Word to people at what ever stage they may be -- planting, watering, harvesting, where ever God places me. Yet, my focus is not on growing them, however strong my desire to see that may be, my focus is on completing the task God gives me for He alone can produce the growth.

Within the hearts...
The heart is a central part of a person in the Scriptures. All the desires of a man are dwelling there. God demands in the Old Testament that we love Him with all of our hearts (Deut. 6:5). Peter tells us that the heart is where we set Jesus as Lord (1 Pet. 3:15). Paul speaks of the heart as the place that God has shone His Light to give us the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ (2 Cor. 4:6). Did you know that your heart has eyes? Paul tells us in Ephesians that his prayer for those saints was that the eyes of their hearts be enlightened. This is were God does his work. It is to your heart that i preach and teach the Word of God in hopes that just as Peter's words did in Acts 2, so my words would pierce you to the heart and call you to repentance and faith in God over and over again.

of the people of God...
The phrase is meant to indicate my specific love of the church. Pastors are called to evangelism, but I do not believe that evangelism is my primary purpose. Rather, evangelism is a means to my edifying the church. I'll discuss that more later. In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul says that God has given gifts to His people. Some he calls to shepherding and teaching. He says that the goal is for the "equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ. I exist to build up the body of Christ by teaching and leading God's people.

a hunger...
"Blessed are those that hunger and thirst for righteousness" (Matt. 5:6). I do not want to simply feed God's people. I want to cultivate their hunger, encourage a healthy diet, compel them to desire the pure milk of the Word (1 Peter 2:2).

for the knowledge of God...
Jumping back to Paul's prayer for the Ephesians, he asks the Father that He would give them "wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him" (Eph. 1:17). Knowing God is what everything in the Bible boils down to. In fact, we will spend all of eternity simply knowing God. When Jesus is praying the High Priestly Prayer in the Gospel of John, he says this explicitly. "This is eternal life, that they ma know You..." (John 17:3).

by the proclamation...
Paul gives young Timothy a very simple exhortation in 2 Timothy, "Preach the Word" (v. 2). This is exactly what I mean. Declaring the Word of God is my passion. I love to speak of the mercies of God. When Peter preached, people were pierced to the heart (Acts 2). When Ezra preached, the nation of Israel returned to the Lord (Nehemiah 8). God has called me to proclaim His Word.

explanation...
When the wall around Jerusalem has been finished and the people of God gathered to celebrate a task well done, they asked Ezra to read from the Law. The Word tells us that he translated to give the sense (Nehemiah 8:8). Basically, Ezra explained to the Word of God to them so that they understood. The text goes on to say that the people had a celebration simply because the understood the words (Nehemiah 8:12). This is what I most desire to see happen in God's people.

demonstration...
When I survey the ministries of many pastors, one thing i see missing far to often is the demonstration of God's Word. We can teach it and preach is all day long, but if our people don't see us living it out, they will not be moved to the action that the Word calls them. James calls all believers to be "doers of the Word" (James 1:22).

of the Word of God...
I'll limit myself on this one. I could easily spend a day writing about the importance of the Word of God. A quick survey of Psalm 119 would show my heart about God's Testimonies. Over and over the psalmist speaks of delight in the Law of God and how he loves it. The Apostles saw the centrality of Word. They quickly sought to find men of good report that could do the table waiting so that they could spend their time studying and teaching God's Word. If we fail to see the centrality of God's Word in our churches, we have no authority and no abiding power in our ministry endeavors. The Word of God is crucial.

calling people to joy in God...
The ministry of John Piper has been very influential on my understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Through studying some of his books and seeing the overwhelming recurrence of joy as the nature and substance of Christian devotion, I have been changed. I understand what Jesus was talking about when he said the Kingdom of Heaven was like a man who sold everything he had so that he might obtain a greater treasure. Surrendering to Christ is not about self-denial and forsaking pleasure. Rather, the heart of the gospel is surrendering everything and taking up your cross so that you might gain a treasure more beautiful and more satisfiying than anything this world can offer. This is the truth of the Gospel that i want peopel to see. I want people to fall in love with their Savior.

resounding to the glory of God.
My primary reason for using the word "resounding" was that I thought it sounded good. The idea is just that God's glory is my supreme goal in all that I do (1 Cor. 10:31). Everything else in the mission statement is the means to this end. Ultimately, i believe that the immediately preceding statement is what is going to bring God the most glory, i.e. when his people find him to be their supreme joy then God will truly be glorified in their lives.

There you have it. I believe that God has called me to be a preacher of His gospel. Perhaps these thoughts will help you understand where my heart is. God bless.

In Christ,

Bro. Bryan.

Welcome to My Blog

Welcome to my blog. This will be the place for family news, theology 101, and any church related stuff you may be interested in. Check in often. I'll do my best to keep my blog up to date on everything going on at the church.

Hopefully I can use this site to help you get to know me better. I'll share with you my views about things we are doing at the church and give you as much detail on my ideas and thoughts as i can muster. I hope you enjoy.