With 2the New Year rapidly approaching we often begin to ask ourselves what we want to change in our lives in the year to come. As I think about this I wanted to encourage my friends and family to embrace a new focus for the New Year.
So often our life gets caught up in our own little lives that we lose sight of the bigger picture of life. So times we even find ourselves detracted by all the good things we are doing that we fail to see the depth of the vision that God has put in our lives.
In Luke 4:38-44 we find the great illustration in the life of Jesus about the importance of gaining a new focus in our lives. Let's read this passage:
Then He got up and left the synagogue, and entered Simon's home Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked Him to help her.
And standing over her, He rebuked the fever, and it left her; and she immediately got up and waited on them.
While the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to Him; and laying His hands on each one of them, He was healing them.
Demons also were coming out of many, shouting, "You are the Son of God!" But rebuking them, He would not allow them to speak, because they knew Him to be the Christ.
When day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place; and the crowds were searching for Him, and came to Him and tried to keep Him from going away from them.
But He said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose."
So He kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.
What I love about this story in scripture is that Jesus illustrates the ease in which someone can be caught up in the good work they are doing while missing the best that God has called them too. (Not that it happened to Jesus but we can see the point in this narrative.)
When I read this account from Jesus' life it would be very easy to focus in on all the people who Jesus is helping. As the sun was setting people began to line up to bring Jesus all those who needed to encounter the life changing Christ. He healed the sick, cured the diseased, and cast out demonic spirits. All of these thing were good things and Jesus could have spent the rest of His life in that home serving the people brought to Him day and night and would have been seen as a great man of God who cared about all people.
However, the story doesn't end like that. We read that while it was still dark out Jesus got up early and went to a solitary place to pray. When the other people woke up the began to look for Him. There was so many people that needed His help. When Peter found Jesus he tried to persuade Jesus to coming back to the house but after spending time with God, Jesus has to refocus His energy. "But He said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose."
Jesus knew that if He stayed there that the true purpose of His mission would never be accomplished. This year we need to ask the serious question about our focus. Following God's plan for your life will not always be easy. In fact it may require us sacrificing good things in our lives but in the end we can state like Paul, "More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;" ~Philippians 3:8-10
May you gain a New Focus for the New Year as you grow deeper in your relationship to God in this New Year.
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Christmas Update/December 2010 Newsletter
Merry Christmas!!!!
I want to thank each of you for all of your prayers and support over the last couple of months. It has been amazing to watch God move in powerful ways!
With this being our first Christmas back in Ohio, things have been a little hectic but, as always, God is in full control. We are extremely excited about all the things that God is doing to get things going for LifePoint. God has provided for our family in ways that only He can. We have had loving brothers and sisters provide gifts for us when we needed it, as well as providing a second vehicle for our family. (It needs a battery and we have to get all the registration and insurance taken care of, but we have it!) This is a huge praise because we are putting a lot of miles on our one family van with my current work schedule.
We completed our Church Planters Assessment back in November, and we are excited to share that it went very well! After the first of year, we will begin the paperwork process so that we may begin to receive support from the SBC. That is a BIG praise and we are VERY thankful to have the partnership of the SBC as we begin this new church work in the area!
We are also excited to have our brothers and sisters at First Baptist Church of Miamisburg joining us this week of Christmas in a Christmas Light Prayer Drive. We are picking a night of the week to load up the car, drive around the city, looking at lights and praying over the city. Our hope is that God will prepare the hearts of this city to encounter our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
As many of you know, my (Brad) Grandmother passed away earlier this month. This has been a season of mourning and remembrance for us. I would like to encourage each of you by sharing that we had at least 10 people accept Jesus as their personal savior at her memorial service. Thanks be to God for His faithfulness in the midst of times of pain!
I am also very excited to be preaching on Sunday, December 26th during the evening service at First Baptist Church of Miamisburg. This will be my first time preaching since October, as you can imagine, I have a lot to say!
Prayer Requests:
Please continue to pray for God to open up job opportunities for me. I am currently looking at two jobs that could work very well for us. One as a Special Education Teachers Aide in Miamisburg City School District and the other is with MRDD doing nearly the same thing I did in PA. Also continue to pray for Jess and her new home business with Lia Sophia. It is going well, and she really enjoys it!
Pray that God will provide the words I need on the 26th when I preach at FBC. Pray that His spirit will move in a powerful way to move people into a deeper relationship with Him.
Pray that God will move in a mighty way when we start up our Bible Study in the New Year. We plan to start off meeting in First Baptist and then moving it to a home study once we get our own home, or to another home if God puts it on someones heart to host the group.
Also pray that God will open up opportunities for us to share our vision, our passion and most importantly the hope we have in Jesus Christ.
We thank our Lord Jesus Christ for each and every one of you,
Thanks,
Brad and Jessica Herbst & family
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Embracing The Unexpected Plan of God
As we are all preparing to celebrate the birth of our savior Jesus Christ, I wanted to spend a little time looking at a few elements of the Christmas story. Today, I want to think about a young teenage girl probably between 13 and 15 years old. (This story kind of hits home for me because my daughter is 14.)
As we examine this girl I am amazed by the depth of her faith. At a time in her life when everything was going well she embraced God's unexpected plan for her life. This all started one day when she was visited by an unexpected visitor.
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[a] the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. ~Luke 1:26-38
At the moment when Gabriel showed up, Mary's life was changed forever. By agreeing to God's plan for her life she risked it all. Her family would disown her. In the worst case, her fiance could have her put to death; at best case, she would be shunned by her community as a loose woman. Knowing this, this young girl agreed to accept God's plan.
Take some time this Christmas season to remember the faithfulness of a teenage girl who risked it all to bring us a savior. This took place to fulfill what was prophesied by the prophet Isaiah. "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." ~Isaiah 7:14
Because this young woman embraced the unexpected plan of God, we can experience the Immanuel, the God with us. Jesus came into this world to be the sacrificial lamb of God.
During this Christmas will you accept God's plan for your life by accepting the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ? Make this Christmas the most important of your life by embracing the greatest gift of all, the sacrifice of the Christ.
As we examine this girl I am amazed by the depth of her faith. At a time in her life when everything was going well she embraced God's unexpected plan for her life. This all started one day when she was visited by an unexpected visitor.
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called[a] the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. ~Luke 1:26-38
At the moment when Gabriel showed up, Mary's life was changed forever. By agreeing to God's plan for her life she risked it all. Her family would disown her. In the worst case, her fiance could have her put to death; at best case, she would be shunned by her community as a loose woman. Knowing this, this young girl agreed to accept God's plan.
Take some time this Christmas season to remember the faithfulness of a teenage girl who risked it all to bring us a savior. This took place to fulfill what was prophesied by the prophet Isaiah. "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." ~Isaiah 7:14
Because this young woman embraced the unexpected plan of God, we can experience the Immanuel, the God with us. Jesus came into this world to be the sacrificial lamb of God.
During this Christmas will you accept God's plan for your life by accepting the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ? Make this Christmas the most important of your life by embracing the greatest gift of all, the sacrifice of the Christ.
Friday, December 10, 2010
The Other Man
I was thinking about this passage in 2 Samuel 12 last night while I was at work and I wanted to share it with you today.
1 The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”
5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.
As I was thinking about this passage, my mind was drawn to verse 4 where it says, "Now a traveler came to the rich man..." I began to focus on this line because as we read about David's sin with Bathsheba the only other person we read about is Uriah, who is represented by the poor man in Nathan's story. So who is this other guy?
The traveler in this story is a personified representation on David's sinful lust and desire. A traveler that so often wants to visit each of us. In this story we find David, the man after God's own heart, welcoming the traveler in and desiring to fill this guy's appetite. David then had a choice. He could do the right thing and resist the urges of the traveler and could satisfy his desires with his own wife or he could give in to the passions of his sinful nature and progress in a downward spiral of sin. It started simple enough with a lustful longing that quickly turned into a covetousness of his neighbors wife, then progressed to a rebellious decision to act upon the lust in his heart, and then David moved to the physical act of adultery. After this he began to lie and scheme to cover up his sin and finally ended with him having Uriah killed.
The fact is each and every one of us has a traveler that comes to call. This traveler can come in many shapes and sizes but each and every time we are faced with an opportunity to appease the traveler or be obedient to God. In 1 Corinthians 10:13 we have this promise, No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
It is great to know that we have a Savior who is greater than our darkest temptation and has the power to provide the way out if we would just turn to Him.
I don't know what you are battling today but I know this, "You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." ~ 1 John 4:4 So what ever it is that is pulling at you today rest assured that you need not worry, just lean not in your own understanding but trust in Him who has already gained the victory.
1 The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, 3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”
5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.
As I was thinking about this passage, my mind was drawn to verse 4 where it says, "Now a traveler came to the rich man..." I began to focus on this line because as we read about David's sin with Bathsheba the only other person we read about is Uriah, who is represented by the poor man in Nathan's story. So who is this other guy?
The traveler in this story is a personified representation on David's sinful lust and desire. A traveler that so often wants to visit each of us. In this story we find David, the man after God's own heart, welcoming the traveler in and desiring to fill this guy's appetite. David then had a choice. He could do the right thing and resist the urges of the traveler and could satisfy his desires with his own wife or he could give in to the passions of his sinful nature and progress in a downward spiral of sin. It started simple enough with a lustful longing that quickly turned into a covetousness of his neighbors wife, then progressed to a rebellious decision to act upon the lust in his heart, and then David moved to the physical act of adultery. After this he began to lie and scheme to cover up his sin and finally ended with him having Uriah killed.
The fact is each and every one of us has a traveler that comes to call. This traveler can come in many shapes and sizes but each and every time we are faced with an opportunity to appease the traveler or be obedient to God. In 1 Corinthians 10:13 we have this promise, No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
It is great to know that we have a Savior who is greater than our darkest temptation and has the power to provide the way out if we would just turn to Him.
I don't know what you are battling today but I know this, "You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world." ~ 1 John 4:4 So what ever it is that is pulling at you today rest assured that you need not worry, just lean not in your own understanding but trust in Him who has already gained the victory.
Monday, December 6, 2010
The Legacy We Leave
With the passing of my Grandmother on Dec. 4, 2010 I wanted to write about the legacy that each and every one of us leave in this life. In James 4:14 we are told, "Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." There is great truth in that statement. However, as I remember my Grandma today I found myself thinking about a can of air freshener.
I know that might make me sound a little out of my mind but please bear with me. Every time you spray air freshener what happens? You see a mist or vapor that hangs in the air for a few seconds before it dissipates. This is what God calls our lives. Nothing more than a mist.
As I thought of this I was reminded of the fact that even though that mist may last for a moment, and then it is gone, it can leave behind a pleasant fragrance that can be enjoyed by others. Or it can leave behind a nasty smell that pushes others away. Each of us is like a can of air freshener. The question that we must ask is, what kind of scent will we leave behind.
As I remember my grandma I remember all of her mannerisms, her stubbornness, her certainty, but more importantly, I remember her love, her joy, her laughter and her hugs. I remember the weeks I'd spend with her as a kid and the times I'd show up with my friends as a teenager. I remember her baked Mac and Cheese that she made just because she knew I liked it.
The fact is we all leave behind memories, what will people remember you for? In Paul's second letter to Timothy he wrote these words, "I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also." ~2 Timothy 1:5
Thank you Jesus for giving me a Grandma that left a legacy of love and joy. I look forward to seeing her again while we sit at your feet in heaven.
I know that might make me sound a little out of my mind but please bear with me. Every time you spray air freshener what happens? You see a mist or vapor that hangs in the air for a few seconds before it dissipates. This is what God calls our lives. Nothing more than a mist.
As I thought of this I was reminded of the fact that even though that mist may last for a moment, and then it is gone, it can leave behind a pleasant fragrance that can be enjoyed by others. Or it can leave behind a nasty smell that pushes others away. Each of us is like a can of air freshener. The question that we must ask is, what kind of scent will we leave behind.
As I remember my grandma I remember all of her mannerisms, her stubbornness, her certainty, but more importantly, I remember her love, her joy, her laughter and her hugs. I remember the weeks I'd spend with her as a kid and the times I'd show up with my friends as a teenager. I remember her baked Mac and Cheese that she made just because she knew I liked it.
The fact is we all leave behind memories, what will people remember you for? In Paul's second letter to Timothy he wrote these words, "I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also." ~2 Timothy 1:5
Thank you Jesus for giving me a Grandma that left a legacy of love and joy. I look forward to seeing her again while we sit at your feet in heaven.
Friday, December 3, 2010
By Your Side
I wanted to share this song by Tenth Avenue North with all my readers today.
It seems like things can get so complicated in life, especially between Thanksgiving and Christmas as we remember past loved ones and make new memories. I also know that this year is very tough on many people as we have had our economy crash down upon us. In these times of uncertainty we can find ourselves struggling with depression, anger, and frustration.
It is at these time that I find it helpful to remember that we have a God that is so much greater than our circumstances. One who loves us so much that He doesn't turn away from us but holds us close to Him. When we are sad, He cries with us. When we fall, He picks us up. When we cry out, He is there to comfort us. When we are broken, He picks up the pieces and makes them into something beautiful. He promises to never leave us and to never forsake us.
Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.
Deuteronomy 31:8 The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.
Joshua 1:5 No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.
Matthew 28:20b And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Hebrews 13:5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”
May you rest in the promise that His love for you is without limit. There is nothing you can do to make Him love you any more or any less than He already does. He loves you so much that He sent His Son to pay the price for your sins, so that you can obtain the Life that is truly worth living.
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