The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
Psalm 18:2
Dear Church and Friends,
No one saw this coming. We’ll all look back on these days in years to come and remember exactly where we were during the “Great Chinese Flu” outbreak, or whatever posterity might call it. I never thought it would come to closing the doors of the church, especially at a time when we desperately need to be together to encourage each other in the Lord.
I wrote an article for Crit-Large, published on March 14, 2020, in which I questioned the motives of our government in creating this panic. I still feel uneasy about the liberties that we have surrendered, especially when it comes to our freedom to assemble. However, I sense that it is prudent for us to err on the side of caution. We can certainly take this time to draw nearer to our Lord.
The need for encouragement is the reason for these pastoral epistles. I’m barred from the pulpit for a while so in an effort to exercise my ministry among you I am sending out these letters written for my website’s blog. They will grow and change over the course of the days and weeks while we are separated, each one being a little bit different. These epistles will include a devotional thought written by me, prayer requests, a portion from a catechism (not the Baptist Catechism, we’ll save that for our worship service), and who knows what else.
This morning on my walk I was thinking about Proverbs 18:10 as I found myself at the top of the tower in Summit Park. I misquote the verse but I’m close! When everything familiar is stripped away where can we go for help, for comfort? There is only one place for the believer. (See the video for my thoughts on this.)
Prayer Requests: For today’s prayer requests please go to the IMB prayer request page. (Send me any requests and I’ll list them here.)
Catechism:
For these epistles I thought we could explore another catechism, The Principles of the Christian Religion by James Ussher. His work, Principles is one of three catechisms that he wrote for the church. It contains 116 questions and answers of various lengths. He starts with an examination of God’s word. We’ll begin with the first three.
- Question 1: What ground have we to build our religion upon?
- Answer: The Word of God, contained in the Scriptures.
- Question 2: What are these Scriptures?
- Answer: Holy Writing, given by God himself for the perfect instruction of his church.
- Question 3: What gather you of this, that God is the author of these writings?
- Answer: That therefore they are of the most certain credit, and highest authority.
Be well. If you need anything, please call me or your deacon. All my best.
The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.
Proverbs 18:10
The Bible Bistro 