I love it when God comes!

As those of you who attend my church or follow me on Twitter or are my friend of Facebook probably know already, my sister came back to the Lord this past Sunday! God came in a powerful way and moved upon people's hearts in our service. I can assure you that this had nothing to do with the Pastor!

Truth be told I had a real struggle as I was preparing to preach my message for Sunday morning. Recently I had been preaching through the book of Acts and had reached halfway through the book and felt like God didn't want me to go any further. My original intention had been to preach on through the book. This left me without clear direction of where I was headed in my messages for a few weeks. A week ago Sunday God helped me to preach from 1 Corinthians 10 on "A Warning and a Way of Escape." But, as I was preparing to preach this last week I was not completely clear on which direction to go. I felt like God wanted me to preach a series on Jesus leading up to Easter Sunday, but for this past Sunday it was one of those times when I was not completely clear what to preach. Those of you who are preachers will probably understand my situation completely - those of you who are not probably not so much...

Anyways I really struggled between two messages. However, God keep bringing me back to what I wound up preaching on Sunday morning. It was however one of those times when you get up to preach with a little more fear and trembling than usual!

But God came! Not that I felt like I preached particularly well. But God's Presence came and spoke to hearts. My message was "Jesus - A Friend of Sinners." Thank God He is and praise God my sister came back Home again!

Following the altar service I had one of our teenage African-American bus kids come up to me with his eyes wet with tears. In the past this boy has caused some trouble in his Sunday School class and you wonder if he's catching anything at all by coming.

This past Sunday he stayed for morning worship which is something he normally doesn't do. After the altar service he met me up front with tears in his eyes and tried his best to express to me that he was thankful for my message. I put my arm around him and told him that Jesus was his friend too. He smiled and pointed at his face and said, "These are tears of joy" and walked away.

I love it when God comes!! All the praise goes to Him!


Unfortunately we occasionally have a problem with our internet during our live streaming/recording and this recording is only a partial one.

The Greatest Peril for a Preacher

“The greatest peril for a preacher is wanting the acceptance and approval of his listeners. This is a serious thing that we have been called to and we will regularly have to say things that our culture thinks is foolish and the religious find offensive.” Matt Chandler

A Christmas gift for my three blog readers...

Not long after moving to Tarrant a couple of guys from the Church decided to try to record a message from the Pastor for the Church website. This is what happened...



Needless to say we had not really prepared anything beforehand for what I would say...I also discovered I do NOT have a future career in Hollywood!

The same two zealous men who talked me into this mess decided to make this video. If you visit our church website you will notice that the welcome video never got posted on the website. This could be because there were too many bloopers - or it could be because they were too busy making this blooper video to actually post the real thing... =)

So Merry Christmas from me - you may laugh at my expense.

Francis Asbury's admonition to preachers

As Francis Asbury drew closer to the end of his life his health was in terrible condition, however he refused to quit preaching. His traveling companion reflected, "Such was the shattered state of his lungs in the latter part of his life, that it afflicted him very much to preach: especially to large congregations. His cough was always greatly irrited by it."

Asbury said, "Ah! I may always calculate on losing half the nights sleep at least, after preaching in the day. But I will freely give that, to have an opportunity of inviting poor sinner to my blessed Savior." He was determined that nothing should have precedence over preaching to the lost. He advised his preachers: "Preach as if you had seen heaven and its celestial inhabitants and had hovered over the bottomless pit and beheld the tortures and heard the groans of the damned."

A picture of my new church...

...courtesy of the ever intrusive Google Street View:

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Dear Mr. Anonymous Racist

Below is a copy of an anonymous letter I received today - with my response

Dear Mr. Anonymous Racist,

I received your letter in the mail today (I have also received your previous ones). Since you did not include your name or address I thought it best that I post my reply to your letter online. I want to thank you for your letter because once again, after reading it, God reminded me that the Devil always tries to fight and discourage those who are doing His work. While your letter was intended to discourage me from seeking to win all men to Christ, instead it just reaffirmed to me how necessary the fulfillment of the Great Commission is. As a reminder to you here is Matthew 28:19-20 and Mark 16:15:

¹⁹Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: ²⁰Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
¹⁵And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

You see, I take God's Word very seriously. In fact, when I read the following Scriptures, which make it very clear to me that racism, partiality, and views such as you have expressed in your letter are sinful.

"Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism  35 but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right." Acts 10:34-35

"God does not show favoritism." Romans 2:11

"¹My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. ²For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, ³and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, "You sit here in a good place," while you say to the poor man, "You stand over there," or, "Sit down at my feet," ⁴have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? ⁵Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? ⁶But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? ⁷Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? ⁸If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well. ⁹But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it." James 2

"²⁶for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. ²⁷For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3 

You asked the question, "Do you promote inter-racial mixing...?" I think I know what you mean by this question and my answer is YES! You see, I believe the church of all places should be a place where people of every race, color, and background come together as one and worship Christ. So I make no apologies for not looking on the outward appearance of people and yes I encourage inter-racial mixing.

You also asked if I promote inter-racial marriage. I promote the marriage of any Christian couple, who have not been previously married, who are in love with one another and show the maturity and commitment that marriage requires. I know many inter-racial couples who have wonderful marriages that are an example of Christ's love to us. Marriage is after all a picture of Christ's love. I know I am thankful that He loved me despite my outward appearance. I am so thankful that an olive skinned Jewish man died for me a white man! You see, once again I remind you that God does not look on the outward appearance but on the heart!

As far as my "promotions" as you called them, I will most certainly pray about them. I am praying that God will expand them and further them. I am currently in the process of leaving my current church and seeking God's will about where He wants me in the future. One of my main passions is to pastor a healthy multi-cultural church where people of all races and nationalities are welcomed and included. You see, I truly believe that the Great Commission includes everyone. I'm certainly thankful it includes me as a white man. I'm very thankful that somewhere in the past, someone of a different race and color had a burden to share the Gospel with the white man. It is my prayer and mission that God will use me as a white man to share the Gospel with men and women of every race and color!

Dear Mr. Anonymous Racist I ask you to consider Revelation 5. Revelation 5 is of course the Apostle John's vision of Heaven. In the verses below they are a glimpse into the purposes of God in the death of His Son Jesus Christ and they also give us a glimpse of what Heaven will be like.

And they sang a new song, saying: "You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; For You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation ¹⁰ And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.” ¹¹ Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, ¹² saying with a loud voice: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” ¹³ And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: “ Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!” ¹⁴ Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.

I also remind you that God so loved that world that whosoever would believe in Him would have everlasting life (John 3:16). Since this is the case I have sought to align myself with God's purposes and have sought to reach all men with the message of salvation - regardless of their color.

I do pray that you too will repent of the sin of racism so that you can be part of that number gathered around the throne of God praising Him forever. Meanwhile in this life if you want to get in practice for Heaven I encourage you to find a church where various races and people worship God in harmony together. I close this letter to you with one more passage of Scripture from Galatians 3:

²⁶ For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷ For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Yours for the salvation of all men,
Pastor Jon Earls

The hardest thing I've ever done...

This morning I announced to my church that I would be leaving at the end of this Conference year. This has been one of the most agonizing decisions I’ve ever had to make. It was difficult, not because I didn’t know what the will of the Lord was, but because of the love I have for the people of my church. For nearly eight years I have served as their Pastor. When we first came to our church my wife and I had only been married about a week and a half. I had just graduated from college and was full of zeal but I’m not sure how much brains :-) Yet, my people loved us and treated me with the same kind of respect that would have treated someone who had been pastoring for 50 years. The people of this church have stood with us through thick and thin. They have loved us and treated us very well. We are not leaving because of any problems or because we are seeking someplace “bigger” or “better.” We are leaving because we know that God is leading us on. Where that place is we do not know at this point but we firmly believe that God will direct our paths as we seek His will regarding our future. We would appreciate your prayers!

Below I’m embedded my sermon from this mornings service. At the end of the message I made the announcement we would be leaving. (Sorry if it sounds a little funny – I don’t have very good recording equipment)

Mission Accomplished! The roof has been replaced!

Below is the text from a message I sent out today for all of the Churches and individuals who contributed towards our Church roof project. I thought I would post the message here as well. I really want to let everyone who prayed for us or gave towards the project to know that I appreciate it more than words could ever express! I am truly overwhelmed at the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord and His people as the result of how this project came together. I love the Family of God!

The Church roof is finally completed! We are so grateful to the Lord for supplying and for the generosity of His people for being so willing to give to help others!

I remember so well the feeling of knowing that the roof had to be replaced yet also knowing that we had no money to do the job. Yet, I knew that God is faithful. Our “theme” chorus at Cordele is “My God is Enough” and once again He has proved that to be true!

In the picture above you can see the completed project – a roof with all of the same color shingles, and hopefully no leaks! In the picture on the left you can see the section of roof where they added on to so that it would not be so flat. This section of the roof covers the Junior Church classroom and from what I understand they have had problems with this part leaking since almost right after it was originally built. We have tried various “fixes” over the years but hopefully now the problem is resolved!

We plan to now begin work on the inside of the Church. There are many discolored places in the sanctuary and classrooms from where the roof has been leaking and in some places portions of the ceiling have been falling. Over the next couple of months we plan on repairing these places and repainting the sanctuary. We also are going to be doing some landscaping on the exterior of the Church and we hope to make the place look much more inviting to the community. The biggest part of this “battle” is over – the roof is fixed! I considered taking a victory shout around the building to celebrate the completion of the roof! I feel like so a large burden has finally been rolled off of our shoulders!

This is due to so many Churches and individual’s generosity and we want all of you to know just how much we appreciate all that has been given to help our Church. As the roofers were loading up their things to leave this afternoon I took my camera out to take these pictures. As I was taking the pictures I stopped by the mailbox to get the mail. It has now been sometime since I had received any checks towards the project. God had supplied and so many gave and now a couple of months have gone by since the last time I received a check. But today as I was taking pictures of the completed roof I went to the mailbox and inside I found another check for $250! It was as if God said to me, “See, I told you I would provide.” Tears are running down my face as I type this and once again I want to just let everyone know how much we appreciate you!

Thanks so much!

Pastor Jon Earls & the Cordele Ga. Bible Methodist Congregation

I Have a Dream...

I wasn't alive in the 1960's. I never saw the segregation that separated whites and black to the point that blacks could not eat at the same places as whites (except for eating spiritual food in Church...). But, I've seen plenty of racism. I've seen whites that don't like blacks and blacks that don't like whites, etc. I suppose that the only place where there will no longer be any racism is in Heaven (I suspect if some "Christian's" make it there they will want separate sections for white and black...)

There should not be any racism among those who claim the Name of Christ! Unfortunately I've seen many who claim to be Christian's who have a problem in this area. The Church is the one place where everyone should be welcomed - regardless of race, financial status, etc. Sadly the most segregated place in America is in Church on Sunday mornings...

My stance on this issue has unfortunately caused some people to stop attending my Church**. However, this is an issue I can not compromise on because God makes His position very clear on it! If I can't love my neighbor and invite them to my Church - regardless of their race - than I would sin against Him! If Jesus died for everyone (and He did!) than I must do my best to win everyone. 

Martin Luther King Jr. was right: we should not judge someone by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. May God help those of us who claim His Name to obey His Word!

"Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism  35 but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right." Acts 10:34-35

"God does not show favoritism." Romans 2:11

"¹My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. ²For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, ³and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, "You sit here in a good place," while you say to the poor man, "You stand over there," or, "Sit down at my feet," ⁴have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? ⁵Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? ⁶But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? ⁷Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called? ⁸If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing well. ⁹But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it." James 2

"²⁶for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. ²⁷For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Galatians 3



**This is not a reference to the church I currently pastor as this was written in 2010 prior to my moving to Tarrant and thankfully this has not happened here and as far as I know there is no one here who feels this way.

“…that God would stop the plague.”

I like John Piper. His books are (for the most part) good reads. I’ve especially enjoyed “Desiring God” and “When I Don’t Desire God.” I enjoy listening to him preach and have found many of his resources helpful. The problem I have with Piper is his Calvinism and his misrepresentation of Wesleyan Arminianism. Like most Calvinists he frequently uses “straw man” arguments regarding Arminianism.

Follow the link to read a post by William Birch in which he goes “Point by Point with John Piper on Arminianism.”

I love this quote by John Wesley:

"Answer all [the Calvinists'] objections, as occasion offers, both in public and private. But take care to do this with all possible sweetness both of look and of accent...Make it a matter of constant and earnest prayer, that God would stop the plague."

What every pastor and layman needs to remember

“No man builds the church but Christ alone. Whoever is minded to build the church is surely well on the way to destroying it, for he will build a temple to idols without wishing or knowing….We must proclaim–He builds. We must pray to Him that He may build. We do not know His plan. We cannot see whether He is building or pulling down. It may be that the times, which by human standards are times of collapse, are, for him, the great times of construction.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

How they prepare

John MacArthur, Chuck Swindoll, Jack Graham, Greg Laurie and James MacDonald share about their sermon preparation - interesting stuff!

Is everyone already saved?

I watch/listen to a lot of different preachers online. One thing that troubles me is that many of these preachers (there are many who are the exception to this) address their congregations as if everyone there is already saved - I rarely hear a call to repentance. Whatever your view is on altar calls (which have virtually disappeared), everyone must still repent or perish! We must remember that there are only two classes of people: children of God or children of the Devil! Our job as preachers is to declare the Truth and call all men to repentance!

I was reading a sermon by Charles Spurgeon today and was struck by what he said:

At this day the world is still divided into children of God and children of the Evil One. This distinction ought never to be forgotten and yet thousands of sermons are preached in which it is quite ignored—and congregations are commonly addressed as if they were all the people of God! How shall we preach the Truth of God if we begin by assuming a lie? Yet to assume that all our Hearers are Christians is to begin with an error! Is it not highly probable that men will be built up in falsehood if the very Truth which is addressed to them is stated in a false way? No, my Hearers, we cannot talk to you as all the people of God, for you are not! Some of you are the children of the Wicked One and though it may not be pleasant to be told so, yet it is no business of ours to please you! Our duty is to preach so as to please God and benefit the souls of men—and that can only be effected by an honest enunciation of matters of fact.

May God help us who are preachers to remember this!

Sermon Preparation for Busy Pastors

I always find it interesting how other preachers prepare. In these videos Dr. David Murray shares how he prepares:

The role and responsibility of a Shepherd

My Conference President Walter Hedstrom included the following in his weekly email to us pastors. I thought it was very good so I thought I would post it here:

The role and responsibilities of a shepherd are very demanding. The book "Turnaround churches" states.....Shepherds of biblical times lived and worked in parched, inhospitable, and dangerous environs. The occupation was not for the weak. Shepherds encountered harsh weather, rough terrain, and predators...loneliness was expected...Solitude was the norm...Uncertainty was daily fare...The shepherd never heard a word of gratitude from those he carried, restored, fed, and protected. He, however, did not work for the sheep, he tended sheep for HIS MASTER.

May God help me to be a good shepherd as I tend my sheep for the Master!

Hungry?

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The Demise of the Church

The following is an excerpt from a great post by Billy Birch entitled, "The Demise of the Church: The Church's Love Affair with Modernity":

"The apostle Paul wrote: "I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some" (1 Cor. 9:22 NASB, emphasis added). Many modern Christians have taken this for support of their particular manner in presenting the gospel, even when the means either appear as ethically suspect or are clearly unbiblical or immoral. But was Paul trying to convey the idea that Christians, in an effort to reach people for Jesus Christ, should use whatever means imaginable to capture the sinner's attention?

Paul also admitted, "I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it" (1 Cor. 9:23 NASB). His motive was rooted in the gospel, not shock value. And since his motive was grounded in the gospel itself, the means he used had to correlate with the holiness of the gospel. The following syllogism will suffice:

1. The gospel is holy.                                                                                                                                                            2. Christians use means in proclaiming the gospel.                                                                                                    3. The means Christians use in proclaiming the gospel must be holy..."

Click here to continue reading this great post

Copycat Preacher

A bad investment in the Gallery of Dubious Photojournalism.

Some recent pics

Below is a slideshow with a few recent pictures - most of them are from our annual Easter egg hunt. The pictures below only show part of the kids. We actually had so many children that we divided them up into age groups and had four different egg hunts! We had a lot of fun!

Porn and paper pastors

Great article!  

Decades ago, I read a disturbingly candid essay by a pastor about his struggles with pornography. It was in Leadership magazine. Years later, two of his realizations still stand out to me.

The author came to see (as I recall) that he was attracted to these images because they were unreal. The women in the pictures never had bad days, were never crabby and demanding, never disrespectful and demeaning. No mood swings. They always suited his mood, his needs, his wants. They were unreal.

He came to see that he had no actual relationship with these women whatever. If (he named a female celebrity) had sat down next to him in an airplane, she wouldn't know him from Adam. Whatever may have happened in his sinful fantasies, the two of them had no relationship in the real world.

Of course, this is why so many women resent actresses and models. It isn't catty pettiness or smallness. It is that they know how visually-tempted men can be, and they know that they can't compete with a fantasy — if their man is fool enough to chase one.

And they're right, in a way. They can't compete with these women. Because these women don't exist in the real world! They may not even look like their pictures! Thanks to computer wizardry, the pictures we see may actually bear only the slightest resemblance to the actual women.

Nobody can compete with a fantasy.

And this post is not about pornography, men, women, nor marriage.

It is about people with paper pastors.

Click here to keep reading