A New Chapter is About to Begin

This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you-- Titus 1:5

Can I overemphasize how important this season of our church is?

No, I cannot.

We are entering a new chapter at Harvest Bible Chapel Pittsburgh North. Up to this point, leadership has come from me and Rick Donald, who serves Harvest Bible Fellowship so faithfully and has served HBCPN faithfully since Day 1. 

But the goal from the beginning of the church plant has been to identify, select, interview, approve, train, and install men in our own church to shepherd this flock.

It has been a long process, but we have indeed identified, selected, interviewed, approved, and trained 3 men. And officially installing them will happen in service on September 14. These three men are Darren Keller, Jay Knauer, and Mark Ort. (Check out our “staff“ page on this site for pics and bios!)

What does it mean?

Simply put, it means HBCPN is now a self-governing and autonomous church (wait, is that simple?). With our own leaders in place, we are “independent” as a church body. We are not part of a denomination, we are a part of a fellowship. So while we have great relationships and influences in the Harvest Bible Fellowship Family, we strive to function as a local self-governing NT church as is the goal of all other HBC plants.

It is a milestone. It is a transition. And it is an exciting new chapter in the life of our church. Do not miss Installation Sunday on September 14!

Please keep Darren, Jay, and Mark in your prayers as they step into their new roles.

p.s. - thankful to God for these men

When Facing Death...

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words. -1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

It’s been a bit of a sad month. I have had to say goodbye to some good friends. And I don’t mean, “Goodbye, have a nice vacation.” I mean, several people I have done ministry for and with have graduated to glory. It’s a two edged sword of sorrow and joy. Sorrow because, selfishly, I am going to miss these people. But joy because these people were all born again believers. Recipients of the promise of God in Christ to forgive sins and provide eternal life. So, as James MacDonald says about the departed in Christ, “they are having a good day!”

So this is just a reminder. For me, definitely. For you if it applies. (If it doesn‘t now, it will some time soon.)

A reminder of what?

1. I am not uninformed. Notice Paul’s first statement. He is saying we are not ignorant about those who have died. I don’t need to sit here and wonder “Where are they? What’s it like there? Are they happy? Will I see them again?” God gave us His Word to take the guess work out of what it's like to step into eternity.
    
2. I am not hopeless. Paul reminds us that Jesus died and rose again. This is not just a fact in history, this is the core of my faith. This is what keeps me going. This is what makes it all worth it. This is my very hope. If not for the death of Jesus for my sins, and the resurrection of Jesus to give me eternal life, this life is meaningless and death is horrifying. So there is grieving, sure, but not grieving like people who don’t know the Lord. Because we know better. See #1.
    
3. I am to encourage others going through this. Look at that last phrase. Encourage one another with these words. We will always be a people dealing with death (that is, until Christ returns for us, as Paul mentions). We will see loved ones die - after many years, after few years, through illness, through tragedy… it’s always happened and it will continue. So in the face of such sadness, I am to remember to encourage people with the living hope that we have in Jesus Christ. You be an encourager, too.

Thank you, God, for these reminders.
p.s. - not uninformed

I Can See Clearly Now…

And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, "Do you see anything?" And he looked up and said, "I see men, but they look like trees, walking." Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. And he sent him to his home, saying, "Do not even enter the village." Mark 8:22-26

This is an extremely unique miracle of Jesus, one that occurs only in Mark’s Gospel. Sure, some of the elements look familiar, in fact, look a lot like what we saw in Mark 7:31-37 when Jesus healed the deaf man.

In both cases:

• the afflicted was brought to Jesus
   
• they begged Jesus to heal the afflicted
   
• Jesus pulled the afflicted aside privately
   
• Jesus incorporated spitting into the healing
   
• the afflicted was healed
   
• Jesus told the newly healed person to keep it quiet

But something unusual happens with the blind man. Again, something that only happens here, in all of what is written about Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John - this is the ONLY time this happens - the man was healed in 2 stages!

The first time Jesus touched the man, Jesus asked him if he saw anything. The man saw something that looked like moving trees. Obviously, he saw people - just really out of focus. Then Jesus touched him again, and this time his sight was 20/20.

Jesus never asked questions of the people He healed, so why here? Why bring attention to this? Jesus obviously wanted the disciples to know what He was up to. What is it?

Last Sunday, we looked at the previous passage where Jesus warned the disciples to watch out for the “leaven” of the Pharisees and Herod. Upon their misunderstanding of Jesus’ point, Jesus rebukes them, verses 17-21, for being hard hearted, spiritually blind and deaf, and having a short memory.

The point was: the disciples saw some things, but they didn’t really see them clearly.

You and I can be just like that. We see God at work, watch Him provide, heal, restore - and we don’t see things clearly. We still are tempted to doubt and lose heart at the very next trial that comes. So how do we go from being spiritually blind, to having some sight, to being able to see the things of God clearly?

The same way this man physically went from blind --> having some sight --> seeing clearly. It’s only through repeated contact with Jesus.

You want spiritual eyes to see God at work? The more you are around Jesus, the clearer you will see.

p.s. - longs for clearer and clearer vision...

Lifting the Gay Marriage Ban is Just Part of the Story

Pay attention. You are watching the Bible’s message happen right in front of you, and you may not even realize it.

We heard one more line in the story of the Bible proclaimed this week in the lifting of the ban on same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania.

If you can put any strong opinions about this hotly debated topic on the shelf for 2 minutes, you can see it.

Can we take a look back at recent history? Even just looking at how things have accelerated in these last 2 generations. What have we seen?

Instead of embracing the truth that we were created by God and for God, evolutionists have, in the name of science, embraced and promoted a “God-less origin-of-man story” to completely crowd out even the option of a “God-driven origin story” in public schools. Remember when that was the hot topic? Seems like it was just yesterday it was all over the news. In short, we can say, REJECTING GOD.

Creation isn’t science. Evolution is science. We don’t need a story about God to explain how we got here. The Bible’s story is foolishness, the intelligent people understand that there is no God behind this all. In short, we can say: PROCLAIMING MAN’S WISDOM.

Evicting God resulted in a worship void. We were made to worship, and we will worship something. It can be man (athletes, musicians, politicians, myself) or even animals. There is little regard for saving a human baby (just abort the blob of tissue, after all, you have the right to do whatever you want with your body), but mention some endangered species or malnourished cat and everyone is ready to write a sad song and run a 5K for them. In short we can say: EXALTING MAN AND ANIMAL.

And as I said earlier, there has been much rejoicing this week over lifting the ban on same-sex marriage in Pennsylvania. It’s Marriage Equality. No one should tell anyone who they can love and marry. If two women want to marry, or two men want to marry, I have no business objecting to that. In short: HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVITY.

And we have not only accepted homosexuality as an “alternative lifestyle”, we have evolved into such forward-thinking people that we applaud the courage of those who have stepped out to declare their same-sex love. People like Ellen Degeneres, Ellen Page, Jason Collins, and Michael Sam are the real heroes. Let’s give them a standing ovation for their incredible courage, so long as it doesn’t interrupt any congratulatory calls from the man holding the highest office of our nation. In short, let’s say: HEARTY APPROVAL.

So, at the risk of oversimplifying things, we see a story of REJECTING GOD, PROCLAIMING MAN’S WISDOM, EXALTING MAN AND ANIMAL, HOMOSEXUAL UNION, and HEARTY APPROVAL.

And God told this story almost 2000 years ago in Romans 1:18-32:

Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Rom 1:19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.

Rom 1:20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Rom 1:21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

REJECTING GOD.

Rom 1:22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

PROCLAIMING MAN’S WISDOM.

Rom 1:23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Rom 1:24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,

Rom 1:25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

EXALTING MAN AND ANIMAL.

Rom 1:26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature;

Rom 1:27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Rom 1:28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.

HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVITY.

Rom 1:29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,

Rom 1:30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,

Rom 1:31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.

Rom 1:32 Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

          HEARTY APPROVAL.

(Emphasis added on Scriptural references.)

Keep your eye on the news. And your other eye on the Bible. It’s almost as if God saw this coming.

p.s. - as always, comments welcome below, whether you agree or disagree...