Thank You, Kentucky

In August of 2006 I was fresh out of High School and moved to a most unlikely town to go to Bible College, Louisville, KY. Six and a half years later I am now back in Michigan with a wife, two kids, a Bachelor’s Degree, several hours towards a Master’s Degree and some ministry experience. I don’t anticipate ever living in the bluegrass state again, but as we stayed our last night in Kentucky at the Legacy Center I spent some time reflecting on all of the people I had met, all of the knowledge I had gained and all of the ministry opportunity I was given. As a result of that contemplation, there are some people that I must thank.

The first is The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Boyce College. That school is the reason I first left the great lakes state and headed down south. I will always be indebted to Dr. Al Mohler and the entire faculty that have given me a vision for gospel-centered ministry and a love for theology. Professors like Dr. Travis Kerns, Dr. Brian Payne, Dr. Steve Wellum, Dr. Russell Moore, Dr. Dave DeKlavon, Dr. Barry Joslin, Dr. Dan DeWitt, Dr. Jim Orrick, Dr. Jim Hamilton and Dr. Greg Wills, to name a few, have instilled a love for the bible and theology in me that I will carry my entire life. I must especially acknowledge Dr. Chad Brand who not only was an amazing professor, but also allowed me to serve as a Garrett Fellow to him for two and a half years. Dr. Brand gave me academic guidance and also was kind enough to come and teach at the church I pastored in Fordsville. While I am still pursuing my M.Div. and will be a student at SBTS for a few more years, I will never be on campus in the same way I have been for the past six plus years. Since 2006 I had been at the seminary at least once a week. I am thankful for the continuing work of the Seminary in my life and in the work of the gospel; I hope this partnership that began six and a half years ago will endure for my lifetime.

The second entity I must thank is Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, KY. Highview was my local church for three years before I began to serve vocationally. I was a member of the college ministry there and also served in AWANA and the music ministry. Before leaving to serve elsewhere, I also served as a Pastoral Intern for the summer of 2009. My deepest appreciation from my time at Highview is owed to Dr. Russell Moore, who served as a Teaching Pastor for a few years. Dr. Moore is one of my favorite preachers in the whole world; he preaches like no one I have ever heard. His skill in crafting a sermon and communicating the gospel to the church is unmatched. I am thankful that for a season I could call him my pastor.

The third offer of gratitude belongs to Pellville Baptist Church where I served as Youth Pastor from October of 2009 to April of 2011. Pellville was where I began my ministry. The youth group there will always be my youth group. We lost a dear friend and member of the youth group, Tony Mitchell, not long after we were called to another church. We will always miss and remember him; one of my favorite pictures I have of our first born son, Alex Jr., is with Tony. Pellville is the church that ordained me to the gospel ministry. I will always be thankful for the dear friends we made at the church in “Bucksnort.”

Lastly, I must thank Fordsville Baptist Church. In May of 2011, Fordsville called me to be their Pastor and Bethany and I cannot express the love we have for this church. Fordsville is the place my two sons were born, it is the place where I officiated my first wedding and funerals. The first converts I baptized were at Fordsville and Fordsville is the place where I first preached on a weekly basis. This is big for me because for one thing I love preaching more than anything and I believe that is what God has called me to do. God used FBC in a mighty way and we will never forget the love that was shown to us. The people at Fordsville took us in and made us family, I did not anticipate how difficult it would be to leave, but God is sovereign and he loves his churches. We were there, in his providence, for a time and now he’s got something else for us and Fordsville.

I am blessed to be called to the ministry; don’t get me wrong, I know it is difficult and not always fun. But I still marvel at the fact that I did and still have the opportunity to study theology at the greatest seminary in the world. I am amazed that I am compensated to study God’s Word and pray and minister in the local church. I am so thrilled to be back in my home state of Michigan, in metro Detroit where I was born and raised and in the church I have been attending since grade school. I hope that I live in Detroit for the rest of my life and minister at Heritage for that time as well. But I also am willing to go and do whatever God has for me. I owe an incredible debt to the state of Kentucky and in a small way, it will always be “My ol’ Kentucky home.”

The Gospel According to Moses: 5 Reflections on Genesis

In May of the year 2011 I started a sermon series on the book of Genesis, primarily on Sunday nights, at Fordsville Baptist Church. After nearly two years, we finished the study this past week. My childhood was spent in church and both of my parents love Jesus and raised me to do the same. As a result of this rearing I am quite familiar with the content of the book of Genesis; after all I have been to Sunday School and have seen the flannelgraphs. With that being said, this is the first time that I had ever done extensive study, verse by verse, through the book of beginnings. There were many things I learned for the first time and many truths that were reinforced as I led our congregation through this study. God’s Word is so deep that we can never walk away un-impacted by its great truth. As I reflect on the past two years there are a few truths from the Pentateuch’s inaugural piece that stick with me:

I.                   God Creates Via His Word

Chapter one begins with God speaking creation into existence. Each day initiates with the words, “God said” and creations flows from the very words he speaks. God’s creative power is exercised through his word and it is the origin of all that exists. In Genesis 12 God calls Abraham out of his idolatry to follow the true creator. It is through God’s Word that he creates a new people for himself; Abraham would be the father of Isaac, who would be the father of Jacob, who would be renamed Israel and have twelve sons. Just as God brought our physical reality into existence with his Word, so also does he create new spiritual realities with his Word. Through the Word of God the Spirit makes the dead hearts of fallen men alive. It is only through the message of the gospel that men can be made new. The Word of God that created the cosmos is the same Word that replaces a heart of stone with a heart of flesh. This reminds us of the urgency to preach the gospel to dying men because it is the only thing that breathes life into the lifeless as God did with Adam in Genesis 2.

II.                God Uses Broken People

If your knowledge of Genesis is limited to your childhood Sunday School lessons then this may be some truth with which you’re unfamiliar. The Genesis narrative is filled with heroic giants in the faith, but if we’re not careful we can forget that they were all very sinful, broken people. The only merit they can claim is the grace given to them by God. Our parents in the garden, Adam and Eve, were the first to sin and bring death on all men, and yet in spite of their sin God gives them sons. And when one of their sons murders the other son God gives them another son who carries on the line of the seed of the woman. Abraham tried to give his wife away a few times and fathered a child with Hagar. Isaac struggled with favoritism and tried to secretly bless Esau. Jacob was a mess; he stole his brothers blessing, he struggled with favoritism even more than his father did and it tore his family apart. Joseph was a spoiled brat because he was his daddy’s favorite and Judah sold his brother into slavery, his sons were murdered because of their wickedness and he slept with his daughter-in-law, thinking she was a prostitute. Those are just a few of the issues with which our spiritual fathers struggled. In spite of their brokenness, God used these men to bring about his plan of redemption for the whole world. Oh how we can take comfort in the grace of God when we fall down.

III.             God Loves Families

The book of Genesis is all about how much God loves the family. The first thing God does after he creates the world and everything in it is he officiates a wedding. After marrying Adam and Eve, the first thing God does is tell them to have a bunch of kids. After the fall God’s promise to the fruit thieves is that they will have a son and he will save the world. When Noah is saved he brings his family into the ark and they are called to have more babies when they return to the dry land. Starting in chapter 12 God calls Abraham and his barren wife and tells them they will have a son and consequently they will have more family members than there are stars in the sky. The remainder of the book is all about Abraham’s kids, grandkids and great-grandkids and how God is going to use them to save the world. We live in a world that hates families. God loves when men and women get married, he loves when they have a lot of babies and he loves when people raise those babies to love Christ.

IV.             God Loves The Nations

Sometimes when people study the book of Genesis they spend a lot of time focusing on God’s love for Israel. This is a good thing, Genesis teaches us about the early history of the nation of Israel and how God called his elect nation. It would be through the nation of Israel that Christ would come and would bless all nations. The promise of redemption given in Genesis 3.15 is not merely about the nation of Israel, but it is about the entire world (especially considering there was no Israel in Genesis 3). The seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent and those who are sentenced to die will live again. In Genesis 11 God scatters the nations, and from there he calls Abraham. Abraham and his family have many interactions with other nations, like Egypt, sometimes he causes them trouble and sometimes he blesses them. Years later his grandson, Joseph finds himself in Egypt through the evil acts of his brothers. In the final chapter of the book we learn that God sent Joseph to Egypt so that he could be there to provide during the famine and save not only his family, but the entire world. Moses gives us a picture of the Jews and the gentiles united in salvation under the son of Israel. This is an Old Testament sign post pointing us to the grafting in of the gentiles through the work of Christ. Israel was called to be a light to the nations, they were to represent YHWH and bring others into the covenant community. God loves the nations, he has always loved the nations and his plan has always been that every knee bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. (Phil. 2.9-11)

V.                Genesis Is All About Jesus

The book of Genesis begins with the creation of the world through the Word of God, Jesus (Jn. 1, Col. 1). In Gen. 3.15 God promises that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the seed of the serpent, this is the very first gospel announcement in scripture. When God calls Abraham he promises him that through his family the world would be saved. Jesus is the son of Abraham, the true Israel, who saves his people. Isaac points us to Christ; Jesus was the true lamb sacrificed in Isaac’s stead on the mountain. Joseph is a type of Christ; the son of Israel who was betrayed by his brothers and then redeemed them. Judah, from whose line Jesus is born, is a type of Christ who stands in the place of his convicted brother. The book of Genesis could be subtitled: “The Gospel According to Moses.” Every page in scripture is Christ-centered and the book of Genesis is no exception. As I read and studied each narrative in the book I was struck by how Christocentric every passage was. Every page of scripture points us forward to Christ, teaches us about Christ, or points us back to Christ. The promise of the gospel penetrates the great stories that make up this very first book of the bible. The hope that Adam had was the same hope of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It was the hope of Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Solomon, Daniel, Isaiah, and all of the prophets. It is the hope that John the Baptist announced and it is the hope that came in the person and work of Jesus. It is the hope that the church carries even today. When Jesus walked out of the tomb he placed his heel on the serpent’s head. Our hope is that a day is coming when Christ will return and death will finally die.

As I prepared for my sermons I used commentaries by Bruce Waltke and Ken Mathews and read sermons by Mark Driscoll and Ligon Duncan. Let me know what you think and what resources you think are helpful.

A Bitter Honey

Today marks my return to the blogging world. I return not because I believe that I can write anything worth reading, but because everyone that I admire writes and I guess that means I ought to write as well.

This last week has been one of the most difficult of my short life. My son Jack was born on Valentine's Day and within thirty six hours he was flown to Kosair's Children's Hospital in Louisville to have surgery. Jack was diagnosed with Hirschsprung's Disease which means that a portion of his intestine was not functional when he was born and he could not have a bowel movement. He is recovering from surgery and will have to have surgery again in three months. Years ago Jonathon Edwards wrote about the experiential nature of the gospel in the life of the believer; he said,

"...there is a difference between having an opinion, that God is holy and gracious, and having a sense of the loveliness and beauty of that holiness and grace. There is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey is sweet and having a sense of its sweetness. A man may have the former that knows not how honey tastes; but a man can not have the latter unless he has an idea of the taste of honey in his mind."

There is a difference between the capacity to understand that honey is sweet and tasting that sweetness in your mouth. The same is true with the grace of the gospel. There is a difference between a cognitive understanding that the holy and sovereign God of the universe is pleased with us in Christ, and true gospel fellowship that we experience when, through the Spirit, we see the beauty of who Jesus is and what he did for his people. The gospel cultivates a new set of desires in our hearts and we are made to look more like Jesus everyday. We start to love holiness and hate sin and though we are still fallen, we are new creatures in Christ (2 Cor. 5.17), in a new community awaiting a new creation.

As image-bearers of the true and living God, there are realities and experiences that we share in with our king. When I first held both of my boys I felt the love that the Father has for his Son, Christ, and all of his children. There was a joy and a love that I had never experienced before; I understood, before parenthood, that the Father loves his children, but it was not until I was a father myself that the sweetness of the honey was so real. This reality extends not only to experiences of joy but also those of pain. The past few days I have watched my son suffer. He has been in pain, he has not been able to eat and for several days he did not even  have the solace of his mother's arms. This experience has been merely a glimpse into the Father's heart as Jesus suffered on the cross. My pain is nowhere near the hurt and brokenness the godhead experienced as the Father poured his wrath out on his son on our behalf. Jesus died and the Father watched his Son suffer for my sin. Penal substitution has never left such a taste in my mouth.

I have had many professors in Seminary tell me that theology matters, not only in the classroom but also in every facet of life. This past week has been a storm and Christ and his gospel have been the ark keeping Bethany and I safe. God is sovereign, history is teleological, everything happens because one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord (Phil. 2.10); these truths have been a shelter for our family. This morning as I held my son I took comfort in the gospel. He was in pain, I'm sure he is scared, he probably doesn't know what is going on and it may feel like it will never get better. He may be feeling that way but as his father I know those things are not true. I was holding him in my arms, I was not going to let anything hurt him. I am doing everything I can to make sure he is getting top notch medical treatment and I will not rest until he is better. Sometimes I feel scared when things do not go as planned, sometimes there is pain and sometimes it feels like it will never get better. All the while I am in the arms of my Father who has promised always to care for his children and who will not rest until all of Christ's enemies have been placed under his feet (1 Cor. 15.25).

The honey of the gospel is so sweet, but sometimes the honey is bitter. Believers rest in the fact that what appears to be, and is, so often evil, God uses for good (Gen. 50.20). Regardless of what happens day to day, Jesus is still king and the gospel is still true. My circumstances change, my feelings change, my wants change, my likes and interests change, but God does not change (Mal. 3.6). The promise of Genesis 3.15 rings true today as it did in the garden. The serpent's days are numbered and King Jesus is sitting on the throne of David right now! While we await Revelation 21 & 22 there will be joy and pain, there will be births and funerals, there will be times to laugh and times to cry, and we do all of these things with our church community and our older brother, Jesus. The honey has been bitter this week and I'm sure it will be again, but it is nothing in comparison to the pain experienced on my behalf so many years ago. One thing is for sure, I will never sing these lyrics in the same way again:

How deep the Father's love for us

How vast beyond all measure

That he should give his only son

To make a wretch his treasure