Grateful for First Southern

It is a privilege to be a pastor of any church. It is a unbelievable blessing to be the pastor of First Southern. I love you First Southern!

Patrick Mead
FSBC

Just What I Needed!

God knows what you need and when you need it. Today, I received two encouraging cards from church members. They came at the right time. The one I share below has blessed me tremendously. Don’t know who wrote it, but it blessed me.

Dearest Pastor Patrick,

Never wonder, question, or even imagine that you are not called and anointed of God to preach His word. Please don’t be moved by what you might or might not see. God is using you mightily to preach His word in one of the most anointed, clear, and easily understood way of anyone I have ever listened to.

I am praying that the Holy Spirit will so plow up the ground on which you are sowing and there will be a bountiful harvest.

We are blessed that God sent you and your family to First Southern. I pray God’s blessings overtake you and your family.

A sister in Christ


Thank you Jesus for knowing what I needed on this Monday.

To Save a Life: Sharing Jesus

Over the past three weeks, I have been sharing the process of First Southern's vision to share God's love by leading people to life-change in Jesus Christ. The process has three elements: worship, grow, and share. Every believer needs to be cultivating a life of worship that draws near to Jesus in worship and prayer. Believers also need to live a life of spiritual growth by involving themselves in Bible study individually as well as in small group settings. The third element of our strategy at First Southern is sharing Jesus Christ with our neighbors and nations. It is paramount that God's people share the gospel with a lost world.

This coming Sunday I will be touching upon the need for God's people grow spiritually. This will be followed by four weeks of understanding our call to share Jesus with the people around us. God wants to use his people to save lives and to change lives. My prayer is for God's people at First Southern to be involved with all three elements of our strategy on a consistent basis. This will enable our church to grow spiritually and numerically. Seek God on how you can get more involved with worship, grow, and share!

I Stand Corrected

I have been taught, and therefore, always believed that you can love a person without liking a person. Love is an action, not a feeling, or emotion. Consequently, I should be able to command my love, even when the object of my love is disliked. Today, I have been corrected.

In 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 Paul says, "I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. _If I give away all I have, and _if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing." What struck me about this passage is the fact that actions can be done without love, especially actions of giving to someone in need, or self-sacrifice. Therefore, love is more than an action. It does involve emotions and feelings.

One only has to look to Jesus for our example of love. The Bible tells us that Jesus died for us while we were his enemies. I can't imagine Jesus saying, "I don't like these people, but I am going to love them anyway." I believe, as D.A.Carson so eloquently stated, "Christ love for us is not grounded in our loveliness, but in his own character. His love is not merely sentimental, yet is charged with incalculable affection and warmth. It is resolute in its self-sacrifice, but never merely mechanical self-discipline."

My old way of thinking falls short of the example of Jesus. Dear Lord, help me to love others as you have loved me. Forgive me for the times that I have done actions without any love.

More than Conquerors!

I have been spending a great deal of my devotional time reading the prophets Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Israel did not believe the warnings of destruction from these prophets if they did not turn from their sin and turn back to God. They believed that God would never destroy Jerusalem or the temple. They found out that you can't hide unholy living behind holy things. God will bring judgment upon ungodliness. Even so, not all destruction that God's people face is on account of sin.

God's people will face suffering and tribulation even when they are being faithful to the Lord. Examples of this type of suffering are numerous throughout the Bible. One in particular has caught my attention. It is the innocent suffering of Israel from Psalm 44.

In this psalm, the author writes about suffering even though they were faithful to the Lord, "All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten you, and we have not been false to your covenant" (Psalm 44:17). They were trying to make sense of their suffering. It is one thing to suffer because of sin, but to suffer when God's people are being faithful!

Like most of us, they respond questioning God, "Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?" These words are illustrated in the New Testament when the disciples and Jesus encounter a storm at sea, and Jesus is asleep. The disciples cry out, "Lord, don't you care that we are perishing?"

The reality of walking with Jesus is that we will suffer because we walk with Jesus. We will suffer for being faithful. It is interesting that the apostle Paul quotes Psalm 44:22 in Romans 8:36, "As it is written, 'For your sake, we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." What is encouraging is what Paul says in verse 37, "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors."

God's people will suffer even when faithful to God because we live in a world that hates God.

Be encouraged! The suffering we face this side of heaven won't compare to our future glory.

The Call to Ministry

When I first surrendered to serve the Lord in ministry, I said to the Lord, "I will do anything you want, but I don't want to be a pastor." I was willing to go to the ends of the earth as a missionary, but I had no desire to pastor. Of course, I have learned since then that "The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps" (Proverbs 16:9).

I was serving the Lord as a youth minister when God called me to be a pastor. The call upon my life came, not at one serendipitous moment, but over a long period of time. It started with my first opportunity to preach at a Wednesday night Bible Study. This opportunity was followed by several more opportunities to preach on Sunday mornings. Over a six month period, the Lord gave me an intense desire to pastor his people and preach his word. The apostle Paul said, "The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task" (1 Timothy 3:1). The desire I had to pastor could only be from God because I had no desire to be a pastor.

I have been serving the Lord for over twelve years as a senior pastor. I have to admit that if I had not been called by God, I would have quit a long time ago. I have to constantly recommit my life to God's call upon my life to be a shepherd of the people whom he purchased with his blood. Paul summarized what it means to be a pastor when he said to the Ephesian elders, "But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God"(Acts 20:24). This verse reminds me that I have to commit my life to the priority of God's call.

The Priority of God's Call
A follower of Jesus Christ understands that the God's will is about self-denial and self-sacrifice. This is especially true for the minister of the gospel. God calls pastors to be examples for the flock. Paul said, "But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself." Paul knew that following Christ and serving Christ would mean sacrificing his preferences to God's will. There is a great temptation to serve God only if it benefits my life. All pastors would love to be successful and comfortable, but God doesn't call us all to success and comfort. He calls us to surrender our lives to his will, knowing that God honors those who honor him. God's call must take priority over my family, my finances, my future, my fun, my life.

The Perseverance for God's Call
Paul's desire is stated, "if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus." God's call must take priority if you are going to finish the race. Many people get out of the ministry because they are not willing to make the sacrifice. They value their lives more than the call of God upon their lives. I will admit that I have had many times I wanted to give up in ministry. Every minister struggles with perseverance, and the only way to stay with the course is to surrender preference to the priority of God's call, and the power of the Holy Spirit.

The Purpose of God's Call
The purpose of God's call is a privilege. It is also the greatest motivation for surrendering to the priority of God's call. The purpose of God calling is real simple, "to testify to the gospel of the grace of God." What can be a greater privilege and purpose in the world than to preach the gospel of grace?. There is nothing more satisfying than knowing that God's call is the most important call in the whole universe. What really matters to humanity is to know and understand the Lord. The only way a person can know and understand the Lord is through grace of God revealed through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. What a privilege to be able to testify of God's grace!

Dear Lord, today, I recommit my life to your call upon my life. I thank you that I can serve you and your people at First Southern Baptist Church. I am thankful that I have the wonderful privilege of sharing Jesus.

"Count the cost of following Christ; and if you cannot bear such a cost as this, turn your backs and perish in your sins!" Charles Spurgeon

Thirteen Heresies from The Shack: Michael Youssef's Message

Below is a wonderful critique of "The Shack" by Dr. Michael Youssef. You can find his message on video at http://www.leadingtheway.org/site/PageServer?pagename=sto_TheShack_13heresies

1. God the Father was crucified with Jesus.

Because God's eyes are pure and cannot look upon sin, the Bible says that God would not look upon His own beloved Son as He hung on the Cross, carrying our sins (Habakkuk 1:13; Matthew 27:45).

2. God is limited by His love and cannot practice justice.

The Bible declares that God's love and His justice are two sides of the same coin — equally a part of the personality and the character of God (Isaiah 61:8; Hosea 2:19).


3. On the Cross, God forgave all of humanity, whether they repent or not. Some choose a relationship with Him, but He forgives them all regardless.

Jesus explained that only those who come to Him will be saved (John 14:6).

4. Hierarchical structures, whether they are in the Church or in the government, are evil.

Our God is a God of order (Job 25:2).

5. God will never judge people for their sins.

The Word of God repeatedly invites people to escape from the judgment of God by believing in Jesus Christ, His Son (Romans 2:16; 2 Timothy 4:1-3).

6. There is not a hierarchical structure in the Godhead, just a circle of unity.

The Bible says that Jesus submitted to the will of the Father. This doesn't mean that one Person is higher or better than the other; just unique. Jesus said, "I came to do the will of Him who sent me. I am here to obey my Father." Jesus also said, "I will send you the Holy Spirit" (John 4:34, 6:44, 14:26, 15:26).

7. God submits to human wishes and choices.

Far from God submitting to us, Jesus said, "Narrow is the way that leads to eternal life." We are to submit to Him in all things, for His glory and because of what He has accomplished for us (Matthew 7:13-15).

8. Justice will never take place because of love.

The Bible teaches that when God's love is rejected, and when the offer of salvation and forgiveness is rejected, justice must take place or God has sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross for nothing (Matthew 12:20; Romans 3:25-26).

9. There is no such a thing as eternal judgment or torment in hell.

Jesus' own description of hell is vivid ... it cannot be denied (Luke 12:5, 16:23).

10. Jesus is walking with all people in their different journeys to God, and it doesn't matter which way you get to Him.

Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one will come to the Father but by me" (John 14:6).

11. Jesus is constantly being transformed along with us.

Jesus, who dwells in the splendor of heaven, sits at the right hand of God, reigning and ruling the universe. The Bible says, "In Him there is no change, for He is yesterday, today, and forever" (Hebrews 11:12, 13:8; James 1:17).

12. There is no need for faith or reconciliation with God because everyone will make it to heaven.

Jesus said, "Only those who believe in me will have eternal life" (John 3:15, 3:36, 5:24, 6:40).

13. The Bible is not true because it reduces God to paper.

The Bible is God-breathed. Sure, there were many men through 1,800 years who put pen to paper (so to speak), each from different professions and different backgrounds, but the Holy Spirit infused their work with God's words. These men were writing the same message from Genesis to Revelation. If you want to read more about the place of Christ in the Scripture, read "We Preach Christ" (2 Timothy 3:16).