I’ve Always Wondered

Hey MHBC family, I need your help! Starting on June 12, 2011, I will be starting a series entitled, “I’ve Always Wondered”. The idea behind this series is to address passages of the Bible that you find confusing or difficult. The only way this will work, however, is if I know the passages that fall into this category for you. So, here is your opportunity to help determine the passages of Scripture that will be addressed. Now, I am not promising that I will cover the verse, verses, or chapter you suggest, but if I choose your passage, I will do my best to: 1) Understand it myself 2) Try to explain it on a Sunday morning.

Let me know which passages of the Scripture confound you and let’s see how God leads!

Great job Upson!

Last week Upson Elementary School received great news about their FCAT Writes scores.  The FCAT Writes is scored on a scale of 1-6 and is taken by all 4th graders in the state.  A score of 3 is considered to be writing on grade level and a score of 4 or higher is counted for points toward the school grade.

• 100% of the fourth graders at Upson (that’s everyone, for you non-math people) scored a 3 or higher on the FCAT Writes test.
• 94% of the fourth graders at Upson scored a 4 or higher on the FCAT Writes test.
• The average score of a fourth grader at Upson was a 4.3.
• Only 25 other elementary schools had 100% of their students score a 3 or higher
• The 94% of fourth graders scoring a 4 or higher was the 4th highest percentage in the entire county.
• The 4.3 average was the second highest average in the entire county.
• It was also the highest average of any Title 1 school in the entire county.
• 82% of the students at Upson are on free or reduced lunch.  These results fly in the face of the conventional wisdom of educating children who are low income.  The faculty and administration continue to push our students to work harder and are getting amazing results.
• As a body of believers, we rejoice in their accomplishments and are lucky to be able to be a part of all that is going on at Upson.

If you’re a school volunteer – share your story!
If you can’t volunteer your time – find out how you can help in other ways!
Be a part of changing Murray Hill!

“How do I know which parts are for me?”

This past weekend I was talking with a friend and he asked this question about the Bible, “How do I know which parts of the Scripture apply to me? Did Jesus really mean that I should pluck out my eye if it sins, or was that a hyperbole? In the Old Testament, there are laws against eating certain foods, but in the New Testament it seems to be OK to eat the same foods? In the Old Testament, the Israelis were told to attack and completely destroy whole cities including women and children, but Jesus tells us to turn the other cheek. Which of these really represent how God wants His people to be? In Corinthians, Paul wrote about being baptized for the dead, are we supposed to do that? These are just a few examples that confuse me. So, pastor, how do I know which parts of the Bible I should follow and which ones I should ignore?”

I want you to imagine that you are the pastor of the church and you have been asked these questions. How would you respond? Perhaps you can give me some insight as to the best response.

Hope for Then and Hope for Now

Today is Good Friday. I hope that you have been or will be able to just step back for moment today, away from all the buzz of our daily routine, and dwell upon what exactly this day centers around; the death of Jesus. Christ on a cross. God… executed. What a weighty and sobering picture. And yet, it is in this picture that we see the profound depth of God’s love. And it was on the day that the greatest exchange in all of history took place. Our sinfulness for His righteousness. What a weighty and sobering thought. If you haven’t yet, I would greatly encourage you to take a few minutes and just dwell on that reality; that we now no longer stand condemned before God in our sin, but as his dear children, clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Really. Stop reading this blog and spend some time meditating on exactly what was accomplished on that day and the grace that has been poured and poured and poured into your life.

Crazy, isn’t it?

But the story doesn’t end there. The grave could not hold Him. Jesus was executed, dead, buried, tomb sealed and guarded. But the story was not over. In fact, in many ways it was really just beginning. Death held no victory on this day. Hang on that thought for a minute. Death… held… no… victory… on this day. They may have thought that they were laying Jesus in his grave, but in fact, Jesus was laying death in its grave. In the resurrection, life was brought forth from death. Hope burst forth from the despair. And the world would never be the same again.

What I love about Easter is the new hope that we celebrate during this time with Jesus’ resurrection. Often times, though, that hope is simply limited to a future date of departure. Don’t get me wrong, the reality that our death is not the end for us is an awesome thing that calls for rejoicing and anticipation. But we also need to be aware of the implications of Jesus’ resurrection in our current reality. Death no longer has a foothold! The brokenness that sin has produced across this earth is being restored! God is at work in the here and now, carrying out his redemptive plan. He is pouring life into death all around us. Hope is bursting forth from the despair. How can we not want to get in on that?

So yes, in Christ’s victory, let us celebrate the hope we now have in knowing that the end is, in fact, not the end. Let us rejoice in this incredible truth and look with great anticipation towards that day. But, let us also celebrate the resurrection that is taking place right now in the restoration and redeeming work that God is doing all around us; the light that is being poured into the darkness; the hope that is being poured into the despair; and the new life that is being brought forth out of death. And we get to be a part of that! There simply is no greater purpose or mission.

This weekend…

I hope that you’re able to make it out to the Community Easter Egg Hunt this Saturday, April 23rd. It really is a community event that attracts families from all over Murray Hill. If you were there for our 75th Anniversary, you saw one of our interviewees talk about the significance of the Easter Egg Hunt showing the community that we truly care about them. We’d love to have volunteers join us at 9am at the church and then go over to the park to “hide” eggs. And I promise there is nothing quite as enjoyable as watching 100 or so kids flood the parts of 4 Corners Park, followed by parents with cameras and smiles. It’s truly a great time for all those involved, and they clean up the eggs a lot quicker than we can hide them. The egg hunt is at 10am, and if you’re just a few minutes late, you’ll miss it. Hope you can join us then and of course for Easter Sunday, as we celebrate our risen Savior.

What do you believe?

Of course we believe in Jesus. But, do we believe in Jesus?

The more I read the scriptures, the more I see this notion that belief is defined by what we do more than what we say. So, I can say that I believe in Jesus. Do my actions flesh it out? If my actions are predominately about making more money so that I can have a nicer house, a nicer car, eat better food and take better vacations, am I not exercising a heartfelt belief that the universe revolves around me?

But what if I lived my life for the betterment of my neighbor? What if I spent my time and energy trying to make the lives of others more beautiful? With God working through me, could impoverished children be educated? Could hungry mouths be fed? Could marriages be saved? Could bankruptcies be avoided? Could abusers become repentant?

Is it possible that people living empty, meaningless lives could discover purpose and meaning based on my example, driven by the Holy Spirit? Is it possible that Jesus Christ could affect the lives of those I encounter by using me as a vessel? Of course these questions are redundant, but Jesus said we would be known by our fruit. James said works were the evidence of faith. When I say that my faith is in Jesus, but my actions all center on me, I am trying to make myself the center of Jesus’ universe. Said another way, my works are telling a different story than my words.

But if I believe Jesus can change lives and submit myself to the Spirit, fruit is bound to occur. My faith produces works. The answer to all of those questions above becomes a resounding “YES!” Maybe that’s why Jesus said, “The one who tries to keep his life will lose it, but the one who loses his life in me will find it.”

I am profoundly blessed to be a part of a fellowship like Murray Hill Baptist; you are producing fruit in the community and helping people see the heart of Jesus through your example. And, to make sure that we continue in that direction, I think we all need to examine our heart to make sure that what we believe aligns with our actions, not just our words.

75th Anniversary

Yesterday, we completed our celebration of 75 years of existence for MHBC. We had an awesome weekend with great worship, fun stories, and excellent food. As the weekend comes to an end, there are several “take aways” from the experience:

1. Our current reality does not take place in a vacuum- we are part of a history that is much larger than our present situation. God has been using this church do many wonderful things for seven and a half decades.

2. Our mission never changes- the way we do things such as worship, community ministry, and church polity changes over time, but what we are trying to accomplish is consistent throughout the years. We want, and have always wanted, people to come into right relationship with God through Jesus.

3. We are connected to every believer, regardless of their generation, because of Jesus- His Spirit is the one thing that binds us together through the ages and allows us to be family. The Lord’s Supper that we shared was a beautiful event.

4. I am extremely grateful to be a part of this wonderful expression of Jesus’ movement that is called Murray Hill Baptist Church. What an awesome place to be and what a magnificent time to be here. I am excited to see what God will do next.

May the next 75 years be as fruitful and productive for the Kingdom of God as the first 75!

The new MHBC website is here!

The new MHBC.net website has officially launched!

I’m guessing that you already know this, since you most likely arrived here from the new website. But I wanted to share a couple things that everyone should know about the website.

There you will find all sorts of information about MHBC, our mission, our services, our programs, our beautiful, illustrious, humble staff, and more.

You will also find a church calendar that will be regularly updated with all the events and happenings going on around MHBC.

Each weeks sermons can also be found on the website. We will have these up online no later than the Tuesday immediately following that Sunday. You can listen to the sermons right there in the media player, or you can download them to listen to later or even load them onto your mp3 player.

Lastly, you will find links to the various causes and organizations that we support. Anytime you hear us sharing about something on Sunday mornings, we will post a link about it on the website. For example, you can find the WeGiveBooks.org link on there now that Jay mentioned a couple weeks ago.

We hope everyone finds the website easy to use and navigate, as well as informative. The best part is that as nice as this website looks, its actually cutting our expenditures in half from what we were paying for our old website. So its a win / win.

If you ever have any questions, please feel free to contact us. You can use the general info@mhbc.net address, or you can contact each individual staff member from the staff page on the website.