Southview Connect

Time away

Soon I'll be heading out of town to spend some time away with my family.  It is such a blessing to be able to do that - to pull away and to spend some time resting and focusing on my wonderful wife and my great girls.  Please pray that I would be able to "unplug" and recharge my batteries during this time, and that I would come back ready to lead the charge on all that God has in front of us.  The mission is clear - and the power we do it in is His. 

May we be faithful to the mission that He has entrusted to us - reaching people who do not yet know the hope that we have. 

May our hearts be broken over people who are living far from God.

May we never forget the reality of what eternity apart from God will be, and may we commit ourselves to seeing as many people as possible rescued from that eternity separated from God in hell. 

May everything we do be because of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

See you when I get back,
--Pastor William 

My "One Prayer"

My schedule the past few weeks prevented me from taking part in the “One Prayer” Series.  Back when William first brought the notion of our church participating to the Elders and explained the concept it immediately started me thinking and reflecting on what my “One Prayer” would be?

For those not familiar with the question behind “One Prayer” it was simply that if we could ask one prayer and know that God would answer it, what would that one prayer be?  I’m sure during the time of developing the program across the large number of churches that participated many possible prayers arose including one that asked God to send Christ back today and end all of the pain, suffering and struggle we see around us. 

As I considered that particular prayer however I realized I’d be selfish to ask it as it would forever prevent the saving of all the lost souls who will come to know Christ between now and His return.  And, in fact, it may be that the very pain, suffering and struggle I see around me today will be exactly the motivating force creating the opportunity for another of God’s creation to find Him through Jesus.

Approximately three weeks ago I began to sense that for me there was only one prayer I would beg to have God answer; that being that everything I do would be pleasing in His sight.  As I continue to reflect on this one prayer it convicts me in so many ways and causes me to be more reflective and purposeful in everything.

Like Paul I struggle between knowing what to do but actually doing the opposite.  It seems at times that the harder I try to do “right” the more I do wrong, and the harder I try not to be “of the world” I find myself sliding back into it.  But I can see that at the center of everything we say, think or do, is our motivation, our “character”.  As Chuck Swindoll once said, “character is who you are when no one is watching”. 

If I can only have one prayer answered, then, it’s that my motivation and my actions, my character – all that I say or do, will be pleasing to God.  That is my heart’s desire and my one prayer…let me know what yours is and I’ll pray with you that God will also answer it as I know He’ll answer mine.

In Christ

Wes

Whatever it takes

"As our blessed Lord has required us to pray that his kingdom may come, and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven, it becomes us not only to express our desires of that event by words, but to use every lawful method to spread the knowledge of his name."

This "whatever it takes" approach came from William Carey in An Enquiry into the Obligation of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens.

May this approach and attitude be true of each one of us and of Southview in the days to come.

--Pastor William

Finders Keepers - Awesome Job!!

What an awesome week of ministry it was last week!  Steve Kane did a phenomenal job leading the great team of volunteers who led our Finders Keepers Day Camp (VBS) - it was awesome.  Thanks to every one of you who did so much to make it a successful ministry outreach - we planted so many seeds of God's love and His Word, and I know that God's Word will never return void.  Thanks for your faithfulness, your hard work, and your commitment to making sure the next generation hears the truth of the gospel that we have received. 

So much happening in July at Southview - ministry is taking place all summer long locally and around the world!  If you're not plugged in, talk to me or one of our staff, Elders, or Spiritual Gifts Team, and we'll help you discover how God has wired you and what He has for you to do at Southview! 

Thanks for your faithfulness to what God is calling us to do here - what a privilege to serve alongside each of you! 

--Pastor William

Purpose

In my quiet time studies these past two weeks as I’ve continued reading through the Old Testament I cannot help but go back time and again to something I read at the beginning of Jeremiah, specifically Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you:  Before you were born I sanctified you; And I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”  It hit me immediately that God had a purpose for Jeremiah when He created him.  What struck me even deeper is that God has a purpose for everything and everyone he creates.  And He had that purpose in mind before each of us were created.

Do you realize the impact knowing that has?  It means that none of us are here are accident – regardless of who your parents were, or weren’t.  No matter your current circumstance you were created by God for a specific purpose.  The question that has haunted me these past two weeks is what is mine?  Have I been going through life believing the reason I’m here is because my parents had a baby?  Is life simply a long series of events where chance and happenstance affect us all differently and then we die?  Or, is it that God had a purpose in mind when He created each of us and if we seek Him with all our heart and soul He’ll not only reveal that purpose but he’ll actually accomplish that purpose in us?

I’ve come to realize more this past two weeks just how precious each living human being is in God’s eyes and how greatly He wants to have a personal relationship with each of his creations.  He wants to walk with us daily as he did Adam, as he did with Jeremiah.  He wants to show us His love and the plans He has for us.  In Jeremiah 29:11 God tells us He has plans for us, plans to prosper and not for harm, plans to give us a future and a hope.  God wants us to glorify Him through our lives and He is anxious to make that happen.

As we as Elders seek God’s direction for the church at Southview we are considering this very point – that God had a purpose for each of us before we were born, and He has a purpose for the church at Southview which He has built on the shed blood of His Son Jesus.  Before we can become the New Testament Church He desires us to be we need to first consider what God’s purpose is in our lives, so that His perfect will can work in and through them.

I commend to you the book of Jeremiah this week, and I challenge each of us to seek God’s purpose for our lives and for the church so that we may be prosperous in His Kingdom.

In Christ

Wes

Finders Keepers Day Camp!

Our Finders Keepers day camp for kids in grades 1-6 is less than 2 weeks away!  Have you plugged in to this outstanding opportunity?  You can have an impact on a child's life that could change their eternity - hard to get much bigger than that!  You can contact me or Steve Kane (steve.kane@southview.org) if you're interested.  We have a great opportunity to share the message of hope in Jesus Christ with so many through this, and we need your help to make it happen with excellence.  If you haven't registered your kids yet, you can do that online at www.southview.org - spaces are filling fast, so get your registrations in today!

One of our focus areas this year at Southview is our Next Generation ministries, and this is a great way to put some feet to those words.  We have openings for teachers, assistants, recreation, sound - you name it - there is definitely a place for you! 

Don't let this opportunity pass you by - plug in today and see how God uses you to impact eternity for a child.

--Pastor William

Baptizing the Dead

This verse was brought to my attention (and it’s not the first time), thinking that I would know the meaning of it. But in all honesty I was completely stumped (having answered it before, you’d think I’d know!). I knew of the passage but wasn’t prepared to respond to it apologetically. Here is the verse in question:

1 Corinthians 15:29
If the dead will not be raised, then what point is there in people being baptized for those who are dead? Why do it unless the dead will someday rise again?(NLT)

So how do you respond to this? It seems clear that Paul is advocating the baptism of the dead. But in reality I don’t think so. First of all, you cannot base any kind of theological reasoning on one verse alone. There are a lot of inherent dangers doing that, all verses need to be reasoned within the context of the Bible as a whole.

Ok, tackling this verse we need to understand that first and foremost we are not saved through baptism. We are saved by Grace through faith alone (Rom 4:5, Eph 2:8-9 & Titus 3:5-7). Furthermore we cannot do anything that would obtain salvation for someone else. Everyone must make their own free choice (John 1:12, Matt 23:37 & 2 Pet 3:9).

So what is Paul implying with this verse? I believe the interpretation to be that Paul is being rhetorical, that is, he saying the likes of; “What’s the point of baptism if there is no resurrection?” and then responds to it with verse 32, “if there is no baptism, lets just eat, drink and be merry cause we are all going to die tomorrow anyway”.

This problem has caused many a headache for theologians, so please understand that this is just my take on this verse, many others have differing views. Of course the implication of such a verse would demand that we be consistent with the Bible’s teaching in regards to those matters.

The Role Of The Remnant

During a recent Elders meeting the Holy Spirit led us to realize that God had brought to the new Elder ministry everyone who had been through the time of trial and testing Southview witnessed these past few years.  Diane saw it first and pointed out to the elders "we're the remnant" God is chosing to use in this new ministry and in leading the spiritual direction of the church at Southview.  As the days have passed and I've continued to pray and seek God's direction for us as Elders and for the local church the realization that we are a remnant began to penetrate all the Lord was showing me.

I've now come to realize that not only are the Elder's a remnant God is now using, but so is the majority of today's membership at Southview. Indeed we don't need to think long to be able to see and know the number of us who have belonged to this church for the last three to as many as twenty years or more.  Those of us who still remain after the very difficult of time of trial and testing God has led Southview through are the remnant that through His grace has been preserved for such a time as this.

If that's so, then what is the role of the remnant?  Is a remnant simply a scrap of leftover fabric to be used to patch garments, or is it something else?  The Bible is repleat with examples of "remnant theology", how God has protected and then used a remnant of people.  All we need consider are even a few of these in order to learn a lot about what God has in store for us.  Noah, Joseph in Egypt, Moses, the 7,000 in Elijah's time who would not worship Baal, are just a few of the examples of God's use of a remnant.  Paul even wrote in Romans 11:5 that "There is a remnant according to the election of grace."  What then does God do with each remnant, what precepts can we see from looking at these examples that may shed some light on what God now has in store for Southview?

When I consider all of these examples I see one common thread, that God used each remnant He protected as the nucleus to start a new community, to begin a new work.  Each remnant became the foundation to form a a new community devoted to God and His redemptive work. 

I also see that he used to the remnant to bring deliverance from an impending judgment or destruction.  They became a witness to God's great grace and His continuing work of world redemption.  Serving as a lighthouse in the midst of a dark and sinful world.

I can see from what God has shown me these past couple of weeks that we are a remnant - the Elders as a body, and the church at Southview.  He has led us through a great time of trial and tribulation in order to create the very remnant He required in order to begin a new work.  It's exciting and yet humbling at the same time to think that God has been working in each of our lives to accomplish His specific will.  We don't yet know what lie's ahead, but we know this - God IS leading us, now we need to pray we'll have the courage, strength and determination to follow.  Could it be that He's already told us our purpose for being a remnant; to be the nucleus of building a new community of faith, to be a lighthouse for Jesus and the Gospel, to deliver people from coming judgement, to have a role in literally proclaiming the Gospel to the whole world - all from the remnant at Southview?  Could it be...let's pray and seek God's face and see where He leads us.  Being a remnant - now that's working in the Kingdom of God - what a blessing, what an honor.

Wes 

Is The Church Forceful Enough?

Recently Pastor William provided copies of Mark Batterson's book "In A Pit WIth A Lion On A Snowy Day" to all of the Elders to read.  As I read it I was reminded of an early lesson I recieved from a pastor, mentor, and dear friend who greatly influenced my early Christian growth, Brother Bob Orr.  It was a teaching on Matthew 16:18, "And I say also unto thee that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it."  I had always read that verse to mean that the church was safe from Satan's attacks and that Hell could not defeat the Church.  Brother Bob showed me, however, that gates are a defensive measure and never attack anything, and that the verse is actually Christ telling us we are to be on the offensive and crash even the gates of hell to find and save the lost for Him.

Christ also taught in Matthew 11:12b that "the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it." Suddenly a picture begins to develop about Christ followers that is the opposite of what many hold as the current view of Christianity - that is that we are to avoid conflict, don't make waves, maintain a certain level of "righteous" and stick to doing things inside the Church on Sundays.  But I'm beginning to realize that Christ is calling us to get going, and to get going into places and after people "church people" wouldn't think of going after.

Christ's last command before his ascenscion into heaven was Matthew 28:19 "Go" he told his disciples, "and make disciples of all nations" not just the nice people across the street.  Even Paul teaches us that we are to put on the "full armour of God" and that we are to run the race hard enough and fast enough to win the prize.  Clearly being a Christ follower is something that requires aggression, attitude, initiative, determination and discipline if we are indeed to win the race that's set before us.  This is the time Christ has called us to at Southview, the time to reach out, go out, and aggressively seek the lost and dying, and to do it forcefully.  I'm excited about what God is doing and preparing to do at Southview and I can already see that it's going to be a great deal more dynamic and far reaching than any of us have ever imagined.  Advancing the Kingdom of God in a mighty way - now how cool is that!

--Wes Husted

One Prayer

This summer at Southview, we're going to do something we've never done before.  Starting June 8, we will be partnering with over 800 churches in 18 countries around the world in a simultaneous series called "One Prayer."  The premise of the series is, "If God would answer one prayer for the church at large, what would you pray?"

Initiated by Craig Groeschel and LifeChurch.tv, a church that God is using mightily in Oklahoma and around the country, this series will unite Kingdom churches in a way that has never happened.  We will be fasting, praying, and seeking God in concert with tens of thousands of other Christ-followers - what an amazing thing!  I am really looking forward to this series.

We'll do this on Sunday nights in June, beginning June 8 and running through June 29, at 6 p.m. each night.  We will have a full time of worship, corporate prayer, and teaching.  You will not want to miss this - trust me!  Childcare will be provided for kids (infants through age 5). 

Mark your calendars and plan to be here as churches in the Kingdom of God do a "new thing" together!

--Pastor William