New Hymn Text written in thanks for Pastor Ben Rust

Hey you all,Last night was one of those sweet summer Wednesday evenings we'll likely remember. God was pleased, sovereignly working through the congregation, to give Ben Rust to us as our senior pastor. The vote was unanimous. Here's the hymn text I wrote for the occasion. Ben preached from I Thessalonians 5.12-13 last Lord's Day Sunday morning.“We Ask You Brothers to Respect Those Men Who in the Lord”A metrical version of I Thessalonians 5.12-211. We ask you brothers to respectThose men who in the LordAmong you labor, love, correct;Give praise for grace outpoured!2. God’s peace we urge you now to seek,Be patient with them all;Rebuke the idle, help the weak,And lift the faint that fall.3. Seek good for all, rejoice and pray,Repay no one with ill;Give thanks in all, this is God’s way,In Christ this is God’s will.4. Quench not the Spirit, good hold fast,The preached Word love but test;Abstain from evil, sin’s black past,Seek Light, bask in the Blessed.David Harris – written 07/09/08 in thanks for Ben Rust

Nothing quite so sweet

When the Apostle John wrote back home (to members of his former congregation) he said, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." Nothing is quite so sweet as seeing that people you love are moving on with their lives in the Lord. My visit with the church this past weekend was a wonderful encouragement to me, seeing that Grace Baptist Church is growing as it should and how it should.Love your pastors as you loved me. Pay them well, both because they deserve it and because it is a visible token of your love for them. Build up each other in the church. And ... enjoy the church, because your time there is all too short.Colin & Anita

"Building' in the OT and the NT

The subject of 'building,' Hebrew BNH, is central to OT and NT theology. For example, God build the garden in which man dwelt in innocence and Solomon's attempts to build such a garden were crowned with vanity (Ecclesiastes). The addition of children in the OT is classed "building up,' in such notable passages as Sarah's plea to Abraham and Psalm127. Building in post-exilic Israel is the predominant theme of the book of Nehemiah and Haggai.The anchor of the NT church is stated by Jesus in Matthew 16:17-19. Although it is hardly likely that the OT audience of Jesus fully understood what this meant, the audience of the book of Matthew, the NT church, certainly would have understood the reference. The power and the responsibility to build the church resides in her Lord. Paul resounds the same theme in 1 Cor 3:5-16 (dealing specifically with the local church) and Ephesians 4:11-16 (dealing ambiguously with the universal church and the local church).The modern church growth movement, which is still very much alive despite the despite of the post-modern emergent movement, needs to take care that it does not remove the responsibility from the Lord of the church and turn to the gurus of the world for the power to build the church.At heart, the failure of local churches to grow, in any sense of the term, has led pastoral leaders to seek answers from the world, albeit with a veneer of Christianity. If the local assembly, the real church, uses the power of the risen Christ and His Word, their growth will be undeniable evidence that "building" is a biblical principle that deserves more genuine biblical attention that it receives.Pastor SmithSunday, May 25

"Houses, Cities, Workers, and Kids"

Psalm 127 – A Song of Ascents of Solomon“Houses, Cities, Workers, and Kids”“There is a ‘kind’ of house that, when it is built, looks sturdy and steady and serene. There is a ‘kind’ of city that looks safe and secure and insurmountable. And there is a ‘kind’ worker that gets up early, works late, and makes anxious plans so that he might sleep more peacefully. However, built houses and safe cites and ‘working hard f0r the money’ [to quote Donna Summer] are only vain, vaporous, and vanishing unless the LORD builds the house, watches over the city, and gives sleep to the worker. There is a kind of child that the LORD builds who, rather than shaming their parents, are an inheritance from the LORD. They are like fruit. They are like arrows from the LORD provideding protection from the enemy. The more of them the merrier and the fuller our nursery. The Jewish children of Psalm 127 partially fulfill the promise made by the LORD to Abraham to make of him a great nation. More importantly, these children point to a future reality when strangers from every tribe and tongue and nation will become the adopted children of promise ‘in Christ.’” Doc 5/21/08