Soul Sleepin...

My grandfather passed away a few weeks ago, and not a day goes by that I haven't thought about him. Today I was reading this... "For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep." 1 Thessalonians 4:14

I've had a lot of people ask me over the years what the Bible means when it refers to the soul "sleeping." I think good ole Spurgeon said it best...

Let us not imagine that the soul sleeps in insensibility. "Today, you will be with me in paradise" is the whisper of Christ to every dying saint. They sleep in Jesus, but their souls are before the throne of God, praising him day and night in his temple, singing hallelujahs to him who washed them from their sins in his blood. The body sleeps in its lonely bed of earth, beneath the cover of grass. But what is this sleep? The idea connected with sleep is rest, and that is the thought which the Spirit of God would convey to us. Sleep makes each night a Sabbath for the day. Sleep shuts fast the door of the soul, and bids all intruders tarry for a while, that the life within may enter its summer garden of ease. The toil-worn believer quietly sleeps, as does the weary child when it slumbers on it's mother. Oh! Happy they who die in the Lord; they rest from their labors! They were laid in their last resting place, weary and worn, but such they shall not rise. They went to their rest with the furrowed brow, and the wasted features, but they wake up in beauty and glory. The shriveled seed, so destitute of form and comeliness, rises from the dust a beautiful flower. The winter of the grave gives way to the spring of redemption and the summer of glory. Blessed is death, since it, through the divine power, disrobes us of this work-day garment, to clothe us with the wedding garment of incorruption. Blessed are those who sleep in Jesus.

Blessings,
Frankie

Deaths, Births, and the Big Days In Between...

Susanna and I just celebrated our 9 year anniversary! Herman and Debbie blessed us with a week of their time share to Branson, MO. And, my sister, Tiffany, came over from Little Rock and kept the kids for us so the two of us could have a nice vacation together. It's hard to believe we've been married 9 years and together for 11. God's good! We've had some amazing times and some very hard times. We've been through the thick and thin together, and yet, at the same time we learn more about each other every day. We've had two children! We've learned to comfort each other in the hard times and the loss of loved ones. We've learned to encourage the other. We've learned how the other feels loved. But aren't these things what make up a relationship? You learn and you grow together. I think more than anything, I've learned that Christ loves his bride, the church, unconditionally. It's my job as Susanna's husband to do the same... to love her and cherish her like Christ loves his Bride.
I was talking to my Aunt Eula yesterday and I asked her how long she's been married to my Uncle Bob. 63 Years! Wow! It's amazing, the power of love. I praise God that he teaches us more and more about him through his beautiful blessing of marriage. He's constantly revealing more of Himself to us. It's our daily and hourly opportunity to see how He's teaching us through the things and the people around us. How will you show Christ's love to others today?

Blessings,
Frankie

New Year, New Beginnings...

Man, it's been a while. But, by golly, why not start this back. Better late than never.
This past Monday was our 1st snow day of the new year. I have no idea if we will have any more, but if you depend on nature to tell ya, then you can count on more of 'em. The hornet's nests are higher this year, which tells us it's gonna be a heavy winter for what that's worth. God's been so good to us. I was just thinking this morning about how everyone's doing so well. We have 2 healthy kids and Susanna and I are also healthy. Nothing too serious except the occasional stuff. Hayden is growing like crazy, and his vocabulary has simply exploded. There's not much he can't say, and Susanna and I are constantly laughing at some of the things he spouts out. It's a priceless time. Hallie's not quite walking, but she is crawling everywhere. I think this is week 3 of crawling, and she's now standing up on her own then dropping like a rock and crawling to the next place. I'm guessing it's only a week or two before she starts taking some steps and is truly walking around.

This holiday season was wonderful. I don't think I will ever take being home with family for granted again. We were away from our family for eleven years, and life still feels like we are living a continual vacation. To know that we don't have to go back to Texas is one of the biggest praises of my life. (No offense, Texans.) Susanna and I both love our jobs. We are so blessed to be able to do what we do with the people in this area. Our hearts are constantly stirred when talking and thinking about the people in Greenwood and we know God is doing something much bigger than us and bigger than we can even fathom. We are simply blessed to be His tools in the process.

We are still living in the barn. We are, again, blessed to have this opportunity. There's still the morning kicking from the horses. (I need to get out there with dad and fix the electric fence.) It's been super cold these past few days. This morning it was 14 degrees. The wind cuts right threw pj's when you are out trying to feed at 6am and it's that cold. That then usually causes me to need to potty, then I'm wide awake :-) TMI? I guess it's just one more area of nature's wake up call. That's enough for now.

Have a wonderful Wednesday,
Frankie

1 Year Anniversary...

Yesterday was just like any other day for the most part. Nothing out of the ordinary. I came to work and I went home at the end of the day. I did the morning routine... get up, fix coffee, shower, fix Hayden's lunch, get him dressed, and head out the door. I worked all day getting ready for the long weekend, and at the end of the day, went to my grandmother's house for our weekly Wednesday night family meal. Very routine. But there was something special about yesterday to me personally. It was my 1 year anniversary at Community Bible Church. Now, let me clarify... this shouldn't be focused on too heavily. There was nothing outstanding or impressive about it being a one year anniversary of employment. To be completely honest, It feels like it's been a year long vacation! I wake up every morning rejoicing that I am where I am. I know my family is safe, we are together, and we are very very blessed to be living at home in Arkansas, and serving in our home town. Let me say it again, simply because I mean it. This year has felt like a vacation! It's interesting to me that while Susanna and I lived in Texas, we would always vacation at home, in Arkansas! So maybe that's why it feels so much more like a vacation. My nightmares, in fact, are when I dream that I am still living in Texas. Texas was fine, it's just that I'm now where I'm supposed to be. Let me clarify, too. I've said that it's a vacation. Don't take that to mean that this has all been easy. It's not. Planting a church and getting a campus started has been very difficult at times. There can be long hours and sleepless nights, but there's something about when your heart is so passionate about what you are doing that you don't care about those things. That's what I mean when I say vacation. And it's been a huge blessing in mine and Susanna's life to be asked to be such a part of this.

A lot has happened this year. We moved home. We received Hallie Jordan Post on March 8th, we celebrated our 8 year anniversary of marriage, Hayden turned 2, we got the church started, and now we are in a new building and beginning to renovate it! We've made countless friends since we've been home. There's so many relationships that have started, and I'm overwhelmed by all the Jesus stories I've heard since I've been here on staff about what God is Greenwood and the greater Fort Smith area. I really write this this morning because I'm excited about the next year and the next, and the next, and the next! I have no idea what God is going to do, but I am SO honored that I get to be a part of it! Pray for us, as we continue to serve Him and minister to the people in Greenwood.

Blessings,
Frankie

It Is Finished...

Those three words can mean a lot, especially to a Christian. It was just a few months ago that we did a series here at Community on the final words of Jesus up to the Cross. "It is finished" are such victorious words. It's the Gospel of John that records those words in John 19:30. It's a beautiful passage because we know that the final task of bearing the Cross had been completed. He had been sent to drink of the cup of crucifixion and he had done just that. He conquered death!

I think so often we use those words and don't even think much about them. Our show on tv ends, we complete a basic task that we've been given, we get through the week and are walking out the door for the weekend, and the list goes on and on. But, rarely do we take the time and think about the deeper opportunities that await us, the goals we can set before ourselves that challenge us to grow. Because I think that it's only when we have previously weighed the task that we truly celebrate the completion. When's the last time you've really celebrated a personal goal being accomplished? If you struggle to answer that question, maybe you first need to ask yourself if you are setting goals.

I just finished a book today. It's really not that big of a deal because I read quite a bit, but it's not very often that after finishing a book I place it on the shelf. Today I did that. And, as I was placing it back on the shelf, I was grateful for the wisdom I received from it. It was only after that thought that I realized how much of an accomplishment I really felt it was.

How have you taken time to celebrate an accomplishment lately? "It is finished" are three words that can mean a lot, and for me they hold an eternal accomplishment that we will be able to celebrate in for all eternity!

Blessings,
Frankie

The Life Behind the Sermon...

Something that I don't talk about enough but that is by far one of my biggest passions is my calling to preach God's Word.
One of the things I've always enjoyed and considered one of the biggest adventures and joys of my job is preaching. I love it, and it's such an honor to have the opportunities. Having since moved back home to Arkansas and now being a pastor in my home town, it's one of the greatest opportunities of my life.

But, for me it goes much much deeper than just the fact that I'm home. The reality is that I feel like I work on the best church staff there is. I think a lot of pastors say that, but I mean it. I'm not trying to encourage anyone by saying it, because I doubt that our staff even has the time to read this. But I think it's true. I am a part of one of the best church staffs, period! Everybody strives for the best, and challenges each other to do the same out of love for God. It's one of the most Biblical and at the same time, non-legalistic staff teams as well. I say all of this because we clearly work as a team, and I think the love that we have for each other (as almost family like) flows over to our congregation and they are able to see us fleshing out what we teach. It's amazing! What does that mean for me? It means that I'm on a preaching team that does the same thing. We get together and work on these sermons. It's a beautiful thing to be a part of and at the same time, one of the toughest and most challenging, yet by far the most rewarding.

One of the things that we know as teaching pastors here at Community is that the beauty of the process of preparing the sermon is that it first becomes so real and heavy in our hearts that the congregation is truly able to understand where we are coming from because of How God has worked in us to reveal His message through the Spirit.

This past Sunday, I was preaching in Greenwood on Luke 3, the genealogy of Christ. How God specifically used the imperfect and normal people in the lineage of Christ and how this should encourage us, that if God can use normal people that we don't even know much about, surely he can use us. I also said that our main purpose might be to never fully see or understand how we are serving that greater purpose because it might be how we influence God's people down the road or how our kids will or our grandkids because of how we raised them. It was such a blessing to me to preach on this idea because I love the stories throughout the Bible and the way we see it all come together and we see the "Fullness of Time: (Gal. 4:4) unravel before our eyes.

Once I finished the sermon and prayed and we had a last song from the worship band to really reflect on the message and God's work in our lives, my grandma came over to me to talk. I was really suprised that she was crying. She said, "I'm going to say something that might offend you, but I think you should know..." I was a bit concerned but I was ready. She said, "You know how you said Rahab was a harlot who God used to bring Christ... well, you're grandpa's momma was a harlot in this town and she knew that that was the only way she could provide money to take care of your grandpa."

Isn't it just like God to reveal more of the story to you... more of His story of how He has worked in your life to bring you to where you are? He loves to show how He works in your life if you will just let him! How has he shown you lately?

Blessings,
Frankie

Worship...

What does that mean?
I think any more, it has this idea of going to a building for about an hour a week and having an hour of stuff that's split in half with roughly 30 minutes of music and 30 minutes of a message. Do I dare say that one could better "worship" outside of that? Probably not "better" because Scripture is clear in the coming together of the body of Christ. But one can definitely worship outside of that setting, and at times it might even be less distracting. I saw a video this past week that greatly bothered me and got me to thinking about our weekly worship services. It was sort of a mockery of what takes place, but at the same time, a reality check for so many that we protect ourselves so that we are not more focused on that time than we are the people who come to gather at that time.

As I'm typing all of this, God is doing amazing things with our Greenwood Community Bible campus. Two weeks ago we had our first baptism in the back of a pickup truck. It was a very special time. We are currently a portable church that has met in one of the schools that's part of the public school system in Greenwood. Well, this past Sunday I had the opportunity of telling the church congregation that we've purchased a building! It was a huge moment! It was a very exciting and worship filled moment. It's only been 9 months since our launch and we have reason to celebrate. But, the other side of that is that we don't want to focus too much on a building. It's about the people, not the steeple. I've been a part of churches in the past that put way too much influence on the building and not enough of the calling of the body of Christ. Another part of what God is doing is bringing new families. We had 3 baby dedications this past Sunday, with our baby Hallie Jordan Post as one of them. It was a very special Mother's Day service indeed :-)

So, what does that have to do with worship? I think it's easier to "worship" when things are going good. Right now, things are going great. It's a blessing, and it's easy to give thanks for what God is doing. Last night was an awesome night... Kari Jobe and the Desperation Band were here at our Fort Smith campus. It was a time in which I had a real opportunity to worship. What I mean by that was that I didn't have a sermon in the back of my head before I walked up on stage or a concern for how the production worked out and the order of service, etc. It was just simply a time for me to worship... to give back and to absorb Him and to give thanks to Him for what He's done/doing/going to do. It wasn't a time about me. It was a time about Him. Sure, some moments were distracting, but that's reality. I think we live in a cloud if we think that we can be in that state all the time. We aren't called to live that way, as a matter of fact. We are called to minister to people. How can we do that if we are constantly "worshiping?" We can't. Don't get me wrong, we can "Pray without ceasing." But, we also have to take time to go into the trenches and reach out to the world. Now, afterwards we can worship, but not always in the midst of the work. What am I saying? Simply this... worship is complicated because we complicate it. We think it has to be a certain way or that lights have to be a certain shade or guitars have to have a certain sound, etc. When the reality is, we were made to worship. We weren't made to be concerned about the settings for worship, we were simply made to worship. What's the purpose of man? What's my purpose? What's your purpose? The purpose of man is to glorify God. It's not to judge others and the way they worship. It's to worship Him and let Him worry about everyone else. Oh how the burden is lifted! I praise God for our worship teams on our 3 campuses because I feel like for the first time in my life, I can go to one of our campuses every Sunday and it's a lot like the Kari Jobe worship service that we attended last night. The worship is powerful! The music is simply that, music. It's great stuff. It's not a fancy production... it's our way of worship. Our people are real. They have stories that are powerful testimonies of God's work. They worship God on stage because of what He's done/doing in their lives and that moves us to worship Him as well. Our sermons aren't trying to express our own knowledge or trying to persuade someone into something... they are us as teaching pastors expressing our worship to God through His Word in how He has revealed his beautiful truths to us and us, in return, sharing with the people who attend our services.

What are you worshiping lately?

How are you worshiping? When?

Worship Him,
Frankie