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For Church and Family (001)

Posted on October 16, 2017Leave a comment

Today, I begin a series on church and family. I will lay out several short clips over the next few weeks from my Sunday evening teaching entitled “For Church and Family.”

These should be considered for consideration only. This is not a prescription or a requirement. I believe it will be helpful in all of our homes.

In this introduction I lay out a case for parents, children and the church as a whole to begin a needed conversation about what is helpful for family and church when we gather together. These posts will include a video clip from the October 15, evening teaching with ideas, cautions, encouragements and considerations.

A primary Scripture text over the past several weeks in the series of messages on parenting has been the benefit of Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go…” The key in this text is that we should consider the way the child should go not the way the child’s will wants to go. This is in relationship to behavior primarily. It can apply to the path of life but for the use in this series it is primarily used in behavior.

It has been my prayer that this be a blessing. I respect that a family who attends Eastside Baptist Church has a hard work to do. I think it is a good work. Yes, sometimes, a good work is hard work, but in the end it is a reward.

My encouragement to all parents in this God ordained work is to not grow weary in doing good (Galations 6:9).

On any given Lord’s Day at Eastside Baptist Church we will have from 20 to 30 children under the age of 12 in our morning gathering. That is a blessing from God. Treat it as such and bless the Lord for it.

Tips for Church and Family:

Parents:
- Consider using the term “Lord’s Day” when you speak about Sunday’s.
- Take time this week when you gather your children together and communicate what it looks like for your family when you gather at the church house with the church family.
- Age appropriately, include your children in the discussion by asking them what they think you expect from them on the Lord’s Day.
- Discuss why you expect them to behave as you instruct.
- Protect yourself from being frustrated with your children.
- Don’t grow weary in doing good.
Church:
- Be patient with the children and their parents. It is a blessing to have them with us.
- Pray for parents as they give helpful instructions to their children.
- Pray for the children to want to heed their parents instructions.

Decay of Nations

Posted on October 4, 2017Leave a comment

I began preaching through Isaiah several weeks ago and am very thankful to God for these strong warnings. As one looks and listens to Isaiah warn the nation of Israel it is not missed why they were judged by God so harshly as they ignored God and His preacher.

I began preaching chapter three last Lord’s Day. Here, Isaiah informs the nation of what it will look like as the decay of the nation is in full effect. There are many things along the way that lead to this but Isaiah makes it very clear what the last days of the nation that rebels against God looks like. All nations should look closely at this. All Churches should pay close attention to this. Every family should stop and look into these words. Every professing believer should examine his life closely against the plumb line of holy Scripture.

Here is a general look at the entire chapter three. (Based on Isaiah 3:1-12)

There will be a removal of the great and mighty men. One of the first marks of decay is not a falling away of great men, but a removal of them. There will be a noticeable shortage in the land of wise, prudent, disciplined, discerning, honorable, skilled men of honor and valor.
The shortage of men of honor and valor will be replaced with incompetent, undisciplined, dishonorable, and childish desires will seize them to attract selfish attention upon themselves and prolong childhood by delaying manhood.
There will be a rise of weak willed, moody, rude, arrogant, disrespectful, children who will demand from and oppress the elders. Many cities will notice a shortage of reliable and discerning leaders. Churches will water down the criteria for biblical leadership in light of this great shortage. Children will rule their homes with demanding behaviors that parents will give in to for fear of tyrannical tantrum raging children.
A generation or two of this without widespread correction of course will only intensify selfishness among society at large.
Disrespect for elders becomes the norm of the day. Where there is a lack of biblical social order in the home, in the church, and in the society, anarchy becomes a path most desired and appears appealing to the majority. This kind of chaos replaces peace with widespread unrest.

It is necessary for this progression to happen for a total collapse of a nation. If foolishness attempted to overthrow a nation ruled by men of valor and godly honor it would be thwarted with ease and a corrective course would happen quickly.

The family must recover. Husbands must pray that God would grant them courage and pray that God would give mercy to their wives. Fathers must instruct the children and mothers must gather and nurture the children. Parents must co-labor in this God ordained duty.

Where are you family?

The church must come out of her slumber. Pastors must lead, deacons must serve, congregations must secure the preaching post with heralders of truth. She must advance this gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ without any mixture of the philosophies of men or fallen angels.

Where are you church?

Where the family and church was once the birthplace and training ground that society looked to for principles of justice and good will, the majority are now petri-dishes of undisciplined selfish little boys and girls who demand others give them what they want while redefining and rebuilding a society that more impoverishes and distresses with the markings or the Judges of what it’s like when everyone does what is right in their own eyes and hates that which is true and just.

Arise Church! to your duty! The day demands it! Our Lord commands us!

Go into this day and advance this Gospel, now!

Prayer for the Next Generation

Posted on January 2, 2017Leave a comment

In the Lord’s way and in the Lord’s timing, He has blessed and is blessing Eastside Baptist Church with a generation of Children.

Never in the history of Eastside Baptist Church has there been a season quite like this one.

Five years ago Eastside asked God Almighty to forgive her of trusting in the methodologies of men and began a renewed path to trust in the Lord by trusting the sufficiency of Scripture as our primary instruction for training our children; meaning we stopped all age graded segregation of our children, we stopped providing ongoing systematic separation of children from parents when families gathered together on the Lord’s Day.

It felt strange at first, many were confused about what we were doing (and still are), some thought we don’t care about children and youth.

Today, God has has given us more children than we’ve ever had and more children than we could ever build facility for if we still segregated the children.

I want to share with you a short moment in yesterday’s (1/1/2017) gathering. We committed and recommitted ourselves to the duty God has given us, the church, and the family.

Here is a short clip from that gathering yesterday when we committed ourselves unto the Lord in our duty to obey Him.

Today, Eastside Baptist is committed to the Lord to obey him with respect to every child given to her duty both here and abroad. Locally, thirty-eight children belong to families of Eastside Baptist and forty-five children in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Over eighty children under direct order of God to teach and instruct.

We can do it our way or God’s way. We are slaves of God, so we choose to do it God’s way regardless of the outcome.

May God help us to obey Him.

A Post Christmas Note and Blessing to My Family

Posted on December 26, 2016Leave a comment

The Christmas weekend was filled with great moments.

As always, there’s something about snow fall on Christmas. Even though it is statistically low to actually have a ‘white Christmas’ we have enjoyed two in a row here in Twin Falls. I had multiple times to gather with my biological family and my church family. All of those times were treasured times.

Christmas Eve at Eastside:

In those rare years that Christmas actually lands on the Lord’s Day (Sunday) it is even more special for me to gather with my church family on Christmas day.

(The sound did not record properly on the Lord’s Day so there is no archived recording of this gathering)

Snowy conditions made travel to the church house difficult, but I’m not known for cancelling a regularly scheduled Sunday morning or Wednesday night prayer gathering (this may have made me unpopular with my children from time to time when they were younger). There are legitimate times to cancel a gathering and I’ll leave that door open for that possibility, but I’ll reserve it for the kind of day that will be memorable. (My practice of not cancelling is not an indictment against churches that do.)

I’m of the opinion that if I was out of milk on this same day and had a box of cereal in the cupboard, would I go to the grocery store for more milk? I don’t even have to really think about this, the answer is nearly automatically, ‘yes, of course I would go get milk.” Is not God more important than milk? Of course he is. So why would I let a lesser thing cause me to put my life at risk but hope my church cancels a worship gathering? This kind of thinking may have some legitimate flaws in thinking, but It is what I would do if I were out of milk.

So, yesterday, after a weekend of sleet, snow, freezing rain and the more fresh snow, followed by howling wind most of the night I gathered at 204 Eastland Drive North with a band of believers for our regularly scheduled Sunday morning worship service. (no audio recording available.)

Then my grown children and their lovely wives gathered at our home, along with my mom who now lives in Twin Falls. During this time we read Scripture together, shared gifts with each other, ate lunch together and played a game of Monopoly. During this time I like to always give a verbal and written blessing to my family. The verbal is more general and applies to all of our households. The written is personal.

I’ll share with you the verbal (which is also written but I do speak it out loud). As the patriarch of my family now, more than ever I must be an honest blesser of my household.

I first drafted this in 2014 and have tweaked it with a few additional lines over the past three years.

The Thompson Home: (originally drafted in 2014)
May our homes be homes where the will of the Lord is sought after with feverish hunger.
May our homes be homes where the bible is read, heard, loved and taught.
May our homes be homes where the glory of God and his favor rests in our neighborhoods.
May our homes be homes where mercy falls and warriors rise for war.
May God give us these kinds of homes…
May our homes be homes where husbands are faithful, true and strong.
May our homes be homes free from slavery of the flesh
May our homes be homes that are filled with songs of the redeemed.
May our homes be homes where the shout of joy is heard among the saints.
May God give us these kinds of homes…
May our homes be homes where wives provide sanctuary and rest.
May our homes be homes where the Lord is not only called Lord, but is also a welcomed Lord.
May our homes be homes that glow bright with the Lamp of Scripture.
May our homes be homes where strangers meet Christ.
May God give us these kinds of homes…
May our homes be homes with the sound of children.
May our homes be homes where the beauty of Christ is upon display with child-like faith.
May our homes be homes where the warmth is felt from the fire of God that comes from the family alter each day.
May our homes be homes where godly men and women are raised and homes where missionaries are sent.
May God give us these kinds of homes…
May the grace of God be tasted by all who reside and enter these homes.
May the songs of our faith be the soundtrack of our homes.
May the sound of the Gospel never be missed with the words spoken in our homes.
May the mercy of God be the motivation of all activity in our homes.
Oh, might God give us these kinds of homes….

Why “Happy Holidays” Doesn’t Bother Me (and a few things that do)

Posted on December 14, 2016Leave a comment

It’s an annual discussion that I’ve weighed in on before. And like most, I have an opinion about it.

I hear this often… “We need to put Christ back in Christmas!”

I will be a guest on “Top Story” (AM 1310 KLIX radio) on Thursday, December 15 at 9:00 a.m. to talk about this very topic. (Invite others to listen in.) How a discussion airs out on live talk radio is unknown until it’s over, but I’m thankful for the invitation to think and talk out loud about it.

So let me be brief on the topic in print and I’ll flesh it out live with Bill Colley tomorrow.

First, I agree that we need to put (or keep) Christ in Christmas.

Now let me identify who I mean by “we”.

There is a segment of the population that is responsible for putting and keeping Christ in Christmas, and anything for that matter. Those with the duty to put Christ in Christmas are born again followers of Christ, the Messiah, it is the work and duty of the church not Target.

If Christians are expecting the general, secular marketplace to hold a high standard of Christ, at any time of the year, then followers of Christ are looking in the wrong direction. To expect the marketplace to do anything other than “cash” in on an opportunity is a great misunderstanding and really is unfair for a Christian to expect a secular – free market to do anything spiritual.

I can respect a business that doesn’t use the name of Christ to promote themselves if they don’t hold to biblical standards in their merchandise or business policies. I wouldn’t want to be responsible for pressuring a business to misuse the name of Christ by my “demanding” they use the name of Christ in their seasonal promotional or extra signage or employees saying “Happy Holidays” or “Merry Christmas” during the Christmas season.

As a Christian, I respect that a Christian business wants to put Christ first in their business. I enjoy supporting and promoting these businesses by my being a faithful patron.

Bottom line for me, use whatever verbiage you want in your business dealing. Make sure that your greetings are sincere and meaningful. Saying “Merry Christmas” is important to me. I use it with everyone and am not offended if someone responds with “Happy Holiday”, nor do I automatically assume that anyone who wishes me a “Happy Holiday” is not a Christian.

When I turn my attention to the church house I get quickly to a matter of another kind.

There is a serious problem if by “we” we mean “the church”, then we are in another discussion of another kind. In all that the church does, she needs to have Christ as the primary. Not tradition, not seasonal emotions, not even family. These are and should be very important, but Christ is first and last for the church.

What we do with Christ in our lives will impact our traditions, emotions and family.

Merry Christmas!

Intentional Apathy

Posted on September 10, 2015Leave a comment

If the past 42 years is any indication, the church will soon forget the horrors of what has been happening in the United States of America since 1973 again.

Over 50 million babies have been intentionally murdered in the name of convenience. Laws have been passed since 1973 to protect the practice of the inhumane, barbaric, godless behavior of a people with a seared conscience.

What kind of nation does that?

An immoral nation does that!

We have a moment in time to speak into this issue again. Defunding Planned Parenthood does not eliminate the practice of abortion in the nation, it is simply a starting point that must happen. The sanctity of life is a God honoring duty that cannot be reduced simply to a political issue.

We must engage on this matter with our government. Press them to defund, press them to investigate, press them to incarcerate law breakers, press them to abolish all abortion.

The first day of the hearing to defund Planned Parenthood of federal funds was September 9, 2015. The opening day hearing lasted over three hours. It is long and at times difficult to endure. But listen to me, Planned Parenthood must be defunded. The testimony is horrific at times, unthinkable even. The defense of abortion is insulting to all of humanity and unconscionable at all levels.

You may want to consider gathering your entire family together to watch the opening day testimony and questioning of the witnesses.

You need to be prepared to be shocked.

Don’t waste the day, rather redeem it for the glory of God. Activate your family and motivate your church to press the government to start with defunding Planned Parenthood so long as they offer abortions to women. Continue to press for outlawing abortion all together.

Begin asking God to raise up our sons and daughters to run for public office until this godless murdering of infants and unborn children is stopped.

Who asked the government to have a hand in parenthood anyway? Perhaps it was an intentionally apathetic church. To not want to know what is happening behind the closed doors of Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers is an intentional posture that eventually leads us down the road of not caring.

God, forgive us.

God, help us.

All 3 and 1/2 hours of opening day testimony and questions. If you watch anything the movie industry produces or network/cable television then your children are not too young to hear what is going on every day in our nation to babies. Don’t protect them from the horror of this while you subject them to the horror of the morality of the secular culture; prepare them, instruct them, equip them, expect them to want to God fearing activists. We must stop raising intentionally apathetic generations.

The Great Undoing

Posted on December 26, 2014Leave a comment

I am preparing a year-long book review of a “A Theology of the Family” edited by Jeff Pollard and Scott T. Brown. This is a collection of “five centuries of Biblical wisdom for family life.”

There has been a progressive undoing of the home, the church and the nation. Many talk about it, statistics show it, and books are written about it.

I believe this is a fresh voice from the past 500 years that may help pastors, churches, families, and the nation.

“A Theology of the Family” is number 3 on Monergism’s top 50 books of 2014.

In this book, Jeff Pollard and Scott T. Brown have compiled a massive collection of writings on godly families from over the past 5 centuries.

Consider getting your copy of this treasure and join me on this year long journey. I’ll attempt to give reviews of the essay’s and treaties compiled here.

The practice of family worship had been on the decline for some time. Over the past 10 years the National Center for Family Integrated Families has devoted themselves to reclaiming and advocating for churches and families to reclaim this once expected practice of the family alter. I crossed paths with this ministry while on in pursuit of reformation in my personal life and church.

Join me as I examine this beast of a book, paced with writings from the past 500 years on family duty.

“If we suffer the neglect of this, we undo all. What are we like to do ourselves to the reforming of a congregation, if all the work be cast on us alone, and masters of families will let fall that necessary duty of their own, by which they are bound to help us! If any good be begun by the ministry in any soul in a family, a careless, prayerless, worldly family is like to stifle it, or very much hinder it. Whereas, if you could but get the rulers of families to do their part, and take up the work where you left it, and help it on, what abundance of good might be done by it! (as I have elsewhere showed more are large). I beseech you , therefore, do all that you can to promote this business, as ever you desire the true reformation and welfare of your parishes!” Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor

An Endorsement from Phil Johnson, Executive Director of Grace to You, Sun Valley, California

“A theology of the Family is an excellent anthology featuring a wealth of mostly-forgotten material from great Christian leaders of the past 500 years. Long before the era of television, child psychology, secularized public education, and commercial day-care centers, various heroes of the faith had much to say about home and family life. Their writings and sermons on the subject are full of practical, biblical wisdom about marriage, parenting, order and virtue in the home, family devotions, the training and discipline of children, and similar topics. They drew their principles from Scripture, so this is timeless wisdom – but it is as timely today as when it was first published. In fact, the current dearth of biblical wisdom, combined with the rapid decline of the family as an institution, illustrates precisely why the material in this book is more truly relevant and more desperately needed than ever.”

A Castle or Church

Posted on June 18, 2014Leave a comment

A man’s home is his castle… or so goes the saying. But is this a healthy way for a follower of Christ to think of his home? I’ve been reading biographical sketches of Richard Baxter this week and struck by his labor for the good of Kidderminster, the town he pastored. He regarded worship, biblical instruction, and discipline in the home as essential to the health of society.

This puts a work on the home as more a training ground for the children God places here.

The idea of a castle is more about luxury and easy. The idea of a church is more complex and intentional. Richard Baxter preached to his church to “keep up the government of God in your families; holy families must be the chief preservers of the interest of religion in the world. This puts an importance of raising a family at a whole other level. It is more as much a calling as any calling there is.

“Let your own example teach your children that holiness and heavenliness and blamelessness of tongue and life, which you desire them to learn and practice. The example of parents is most powerful with children, both for good and evil… they will sooner believe your bad lives than your good words.” Richard Baxter

Baxter treated the congregation like a family; a family of families. The good work of gathering a family with other believers was to never be missed except for extreme circumstances.

The good in society that many pine for of old is not found in a moral government; it’s a Christian home, behaving godly, that impacts society as they gather together with others aiming at the same thing, the favor of God.

Hey men, today would be a great day to gather your family together. Read, pray, give instruction and lead your family on a more difficult path than establishing your rule in your castle. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord while it is still called today and lead with courage, shepherd the flock before you. Then, let only the extreme circumstance keep you from gathering with the family of God this coming Lord’s Day.

The Origin and Purpose of the Family

Posted on April 11, 2014Leave a comment

God Crated the family as the basis of human society and civilization. It’s purposes are:

to reflect God’s glory (Genesis 1:26)
to enable man to multiply and control the earth (Genesis 1:27-28)
to supply the companionship essential to human well being (Genesis 2:18-25)

This ancient story reveals that the family is important in all the dimensions of human existence – the spiritual, physical, economical, biological, social and psychological.

This family order is God breathed. (Genesis 1:26-31; 2:18-25)

The Husband and Wife Relationship

Posted on April 10, 2014Leave a comment

It is God’s plan that a husband (male) has authority over his wife (female) just as Christ has authority over the church, and that a husband loves his wife just as Christ loved the church and gave His life of her. Because God has ordered it this way, the husband’s authority does not nullify the wife’s freedom. But the authority of sacrificial, Christ-like, love liberates both the wife and all others in the family. (Ephesians 5:2-23)

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