Cool video

Penn discusses the gift of a Bible

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JHS8adO3hM

Upside Down

Upside Down from Pace Hartfield on Vimeo.

Casting Crowns Video for Christmas

A great video from Casting Crowns preparing us for Christmas and reminding us of the hope of Christmas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7670CXvPX0&eurl=http://blogs.lifeway.com/blog/edstetzer/&feature=player_embedded

A Helpful Tool for studying the Bible

I believe this article will be helpful for anyone who is interested in studying God's Word.

http://albertmohler.com/blog.php

The Gospel Coalition

A great video clip explaining the importance of this coalition for making sure the gospel is preached.

http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/resources/video/introduction_to_the_gospel_coalition

The Family

Big Kiss!

Go DAWGS!

Future WNBA Star

It should not surprise us.

Another attack on the Bible and its teachings which should not surprise us at all.

http://albertmohler.com/blog.php

You might want to place more thought in purchasing Newsweek.

Men Praying

It was wonderful this morning to pray with about fifty men. We prayed for our country and our families. It is a wonderful opportunity to have men together collectively on their knees before the Lord Jesus Christ. I look forward to us making this prayer time a more regular event. I encourage you to pray for our families and the country.

In Christ,

Luke

Judgment Houses

Russell Moore provides a good article concerning evangelism and judgment houses.

http://www.bpnews.net/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=29246

Article concerning life or death

You all need to read this article and send it to as many people as possible.

http://randyalcorn.blogspot.com/2008/10/im-not-voting-for-man-im-voting-for.html.

Article about voting

This article by John Piper on voting is well worth your time to read it.

http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TasteAndSee/ByDate/2008/3347_Let_Christians_Vote_As_Though_They_Were_Not_Voting/

Kyleigh is healed!

Jennifer, Kyleigh, and I traveled to Birmingham on Friday, October 17th for her one year exam with Dr. Romp. Kyleigh had an EKG and everything was normal. Dr. Romp believes she has outgrown her condition. We know that God has brought the healing. She no longer will receive any medication for the heart. The Lord is great, and He has answered constant prayers for her. Thank you all for your faithfulness in praying for her. We bring glory to the Lord for His healing.

An Article that everyone must read!

You all should take the time to read this article.

http://albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=2630

Outreach

What a joy it was to see the number of participants in outreach on October 5th. May the Lord receive the glory and honor. It was a privilege to join you all in the service of our Lord.

The Father is the only one who knows what type of an impact that was made in the lives of the people we ministered to on October 5th. My prayer is that you will continue to be a part of this ministry and encourage others to participate as well.

Serving the Lord together,

Luke

First Three Weeks

The first three weeks have been great. The Lord has allowed us the opportunity to meet a lot of people and share our vision for the ministry. It is exciting to see what the Lord has in store for all of us.

We are provided with so many opportunities to proclaim the gospel everyday. God places people in our paths at work, at school, in our neighborhoods, etc. We are living in the midst of a great mission field.

I want to encourage you to involve yourself in the various mission and outreach opportunities which will be provided over the next few weeks. We will have the opportunity to impact a great number of people with the gospel over the coming days, weeks, and months. I hope you will partner with me in prayer to seek the Lord's heart as we seek to serve Him.

To God be the glory!!

Serving with you,

Luke

Spiritual Parenting

What a great article!

http://sharperiron.org/2008/07/14/leaving-a-legacy-for-the-next-generation-foundations-of-spiritual-parenting/#more-2768

What are we teaching in church?

This article lays out a not so encouraging sign of what is or is not being taught in church.

http://www.bpnews.net/BPFirstPerson.asp?ID=28472

Independence Day

What does it mean? For the USA, it means national freedom with many liberties. We are blessed to live in this country. We are allowed to pursue any objective. We are encouraged for the most part to be successful in whatever field we choose. We are granted many opportunities to make a difference in this great country. National freedom is wonderful, but it pales in comparison to spiritual freedom.

As proud as I am of this country and the freedom I have, I am more pleased to have eternal freedom in Christ. He is the one who has bought my spiritual freedom. He paid the ultimate price for mankind on the cross. He was willing to give His precious blood so that all humanity could experience His free gift of grace if they would trust in Him. We as believers may not always experience great times on this planet as a result of our faith, but we are assured that eternity with Christ is perfect.

As you celebrate Independence Day this Friday, I pray that you area able to celebrate spiritual freedom which comes from the Lord Jesus Christ.

God's Holiness

This article is about a sermon that was preached at the Founders Ministries Breakfast at the Southern Baptist Convention. It is well worth your time to read it.

http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=28302

Preach God's Word

I found this article on John MacArthur's website about preaching God's Word. It is a wonderful article.

http://www.gty.org/Resources/Articles/9888.

Christ: The Only Answer

This Sunday we will return to the book of Colossians. We are approaching the section of the book where Paul exposes the false teaching that is espoused in that community.

It is such a relevant study for us today, because of the influx and popularity of false teaching. It seems that everywhere you look or read a new false teaching is being promoted, but as you reflect on the newness of the teaching you realize it is the same false teaching, but it is couched with different terminology.

The false teaching which is most prevalent today is that Jesus is not the only way to heaven. This statement is diametrically opposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus states, "I am the way, the truth, and the life and no one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6). We as believers need to be prepared for false teaching, and the way we prepare ourselves is by being knowledgeable of the Truth.

May the Lord open our eyes to His Truth.

Heaven

We were reminded last night in Revelation 21 and 22 about heaven. What a glorious place it is, and I cannot wait to dwell there. It is beautiful for a myriad of reasons which are listed in those two chapters, but we were reminded the greatest reason for its beauty is that God dwells there. As a result of His dwelling there, there is no need for a lamp, a light, or even the sun because He is the Light.

Those two passages constantly remind me of what the Apostle Paul told the Philippian church in Philippians 3:20 "our citizenship is in heaven." I pray that your citizenship is not here but is in heaven. If it is not, my prayer is that the Lord will bring conviction in your life and you recognize that you need Him as your Lord and Savior. The Lord has called you to receive Him and His forgiveness. If you would like to know more about His forgiveness, I would encourage you to contact me so that we can discuss it further.

Please continue to pray for all believers to be revived so that we may serve the great God.

Revival

Our revival began yesterday (May 4). Dr. Jim Futral, Executive Director-Treasurer of Mississippi Baptist Convention Board, is preaching it. He has done a great job of encouraging the saints to focus on the Father.

Sunday evening, he preached on Psalm 23 and focused on verse 3; specifically, the phrase "He restores my soul." It was a wonderful principle to reflect on as God desires to restore our souls if we will allow Him. God desires to take our injured souls from whatever cause and restore them back to Himself. It was a great challenge and encouragement. My prayer is the Lord will be allowed to restore all of our souls as we seek to serve Him in our daily lives.

We have three more evenings of revival. I am praying that God's people will be revived so that we can enter the mission field He has prepared for us for the express purpose of sharing the gospel.

5th day in Moroleon

I cannot believe the week is almost complete. It has been a wonderful experience. God has blessed in so many ways. He has opened many doors for us to bring Him glory.

We have completed the columns with the forms around them and poured concrete in the forms. It was a beautiful sight to behold. I must admit that I do not want to see concrete for a while.

We are praying for our new brothers and sisters in Moroleon. We encourage you to join us as well as pray for the Lord's blessings upon them.

The ladies completed the door-to-door visitation today. I will post the full report from their ministry hopefully tomorrow. I am excited to write that there are 8 new believers as a result of this week. We pray that the Lord will mature them, and the church will minister to them in the future.

We look forward to seeing you all soon.

In Christ,
Luke

4th day in Moroleon

Hello all,

Things are going great. It has once again been a long but very productive day. We erected all of the steel columns in concrete. God has blessed us with strength and safety. Thank you for your prayers.

We will work again tomorrow (Thursday) pouring more concrete around the columns. It is very rewarding to be a part of the beginning of this church building. We are praying that the Lord will use La Joya Church to reach many souls for Him.

The ladies once again went door-to-door this morning. I am not sure how many Bibles they distributed. I know they discovered some prospects for future Bible studies, and this afternoon they worked with 56 children. The ladies have done a remarkable job working with the children and going door-to-door throughout the community.

I have a message for Mike from Pastor Roberto. He says, "Mike I am praying for your health, and that God will bless you."

Thank you all for your support during this campaign. God has blessed us in so many ways. May He bless you as you seek to serve Him.

See you soon.

Tuesday in Moroleon, Mexico

The day has been a long but productive one. It began at 5:30 am with Joe and me accompanying Pastor Roberto to participate in his radio program. He does a weekly radio program from 6:00 - 7:00. It is an AM station and the format consists of the pastor reading and expounding on a passage of Scripture with some music and then people call with prayer requests. Joe and I had the privilege of speaking for a few minutes on the program with Nahum (Pastor's son) translating for us. I shared Matthew 6:33, and the Lord used His Word to impact the host and the people listening. It was a good experience.

After the radio program, we were off to the construction site in Moroleon which is an hour away from Morelia where the pastor lives. We arrived at the construction site, and we began preparing the footings for concrete. We assembled the steel forms for the columns by hand and then began mixing concrete by hand. It was extremely hard work.

We had a dedication service for the property before the concrete was poured on the first footing. The service consisted of the pastor reading Scripture, praying and then placing a Bible in a plastic bag at the base of the footing and concrete was poured for the footing. It was a wonderful symbol of our faith and reminder that God's Word is what we stand on as believers. At the end of the day, we had finished seven forms and placed them in concrete. It was difficult work but worth it.

The ladies once again went door-to-door in the community distributing the Gospel of John and attempting to discover prospects for the mission (La Joya). I think the distribution went well. In the afternoon, they worked with the children at the church in Moroleon. I believe they had 53 children today. They made another craft with a Bible verse on them and also played some games.

Needless to say, there is no rest for the weary but the Lord has blessed us with strength and good health.

Thank you for your prayers.

Second Day in Mexico

The day was long. We began construction on the building. We helped prepare the footings for the foundations to be poured tomorrow. It was hard work, but it was worth it. Ramon (74 years of age) worked circles around all of the "Gringos" all day long. As we prepared the footings, we would shovel dirt, rocks, and other things out of the holes. Everyone worked extremely hard. Tomorrow we should actually begin pouring cement, let us all hope.

In the morning some of the team went door-to-door distributing the gospel of John, and they discovered a person who was willing to host a Bible study. It was a great success. In the afternoon, the ladies worked with children doing crafts, took pictures of the kids with a digital camera and then printed the pictures which the children loved.

One of the pastors from Scott County (Chris) had the privilege of preaching at the mission church which is the one we are helping to construct their future building. It was a beautiful sight to behold. There were probably 15 people meeting in Raphael Diaz's home. He is 80 years old, blind and he loves the Lord Jesus Christ. They are extremely faithful.

I met Jose an employee at the hotel where the team is staying. He is 35 and has an 8 year old son. He wants me to give him a Bible. It was a joy to share with him. I hope to have an opportunity to share the gospel with him this week. Please pray for Jose and his salvation.

I will update more tomorrow.

May the Lord be glorified.

First Day

We just completed our first day. It was a wonderful day. We were so blessed to participate in two worship services in Moroleon. I had the privilege of preaching with an interpreter. Our team sang two songs (first time in English and the second time in Spanish). We did pretty well. The believers love the Lord Jesus Christ so much. It is such a privilege to worship with other brothers and sisters in another country.

We had a great Mexican lunch. The chicken was unbelievable. We even ate some cactus (very good). After lunch, we had a prayer walk in the community surrounding the mission where we will begin construction on Monday morning at 8:00 am. After the prayer walk, we had another service with one of the pastors from Scott County preaching and the same brother interpreting for him. Once this service concluded, Joe Pugh and I went with the pastor and his family to Morelia (an hour away) and had another service. I had the privilege of preaching in this service with the pastor's son interpreting for me. The pastor is extremely busy (three services a day in two different cities).

After the service, we went to the Mexican version of Wal-Mart to purchase dinner items. Mimi (pastor's wife) prepared homemade quesadillas. They were delicious. We finished dinner at 10:00 pm. It has been a long day. I am going to attempt to get some sleep now.

We appreciate your prayers. We encourage you to pray for our strength as we begin construction tomorrow. I will update again tomorrow evening.

We are here!

We made it. We arrived at 8:00 pm, and we all made it through customs fine. We had three cars transport the bags and all of the people from the airport. It truly was the beginning of the mission trip. The bags were packed extremely high on the back of the truck and packed tightly in the two vans. The team were packed in the three vehicles nice and tight.

We will be attending the worship service at the mission in the morning. We will be constructing the building for this mission. I will be preaching with an interpreter translating. We will attend their service in the afternoon and also have a prayer walk.

Thank you for praying for our safe arrival. I will keep you updated as often as possible.

Waiting in Houston

I am presently in the Houston - Bush International Airport awaiting the arrival of the rest of the mission team to meet me. There are 21 of us who will be leaving Houston (Sat Apr 19th) for a week in Mexico. I will attempt to blog as often as possible to update the mission.

We would appreciate your prayers as we seek to bring glory to God this week. We also request you to pray for our families as we will be separated from them for a week. This week will be the longest time Jennifer and I have been apart. I know the Lord will take care of her and the kids. I miss you guys, and I will see you in seven days.

Next post will be in Mexico!

Father and Son

This video is absolutely powerful. What love that is displayed by this father!

GodTube.com - My Redeemer Lives - Team Hoyt

God the Creator and Sustainer

This video is amazing. You will want to take the time to view it and then share it. God is the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe.
GodTube.com - Louie Giglio - Laminin

Mexico Mission Trip

I would like to ask you all to pray for our upcoming Mission Trip to Moroleon, Mexico. There are 21 people from Newton/Scott Baptist Associations who will be going. The dates of the trip are April 19-26.

Our main objective is to begin construction on a church building. We are uncertain how much construction will take place that week. We are praying for opportunities to share the gospel within the surrounding communities. We will have numerous opportunities to minister for our Lord Jesus Christ.

I will attempt to blog as often as possible during that week.

Service

What does it mean to be in service to our Lord Jesus Christ? That is the message for this upcoming Sunday morning. We are going to study about the importance of serving Jesus Christ. We are going to be reminded in Scripture that God has gifted us to build His kingdom.

I want to encourage you to pray for the Lord's leadership in service for Him. He has designed you to serve Him for His glory. He has plans for you to minister to His believers and also seek opportunities to share the gospel with the lost.

There are no places on the bench in a believer's life. The call is for us to be involved in ministry. May the Lord guide you as you seek to serve Him!

I am joining you in service to our Lord Jesus Christ.

First Baptist Church - Easter Reflections

First Baptist Church - Easter Reflections

Braves Baseball

The baseball season is back. Could this year be the one when the Braves return to the playoffs? I believe their chances of making the playoffs are much better this year than the previous two. The pitching should be much improved, and their offense will be extremely potent.

It all begins on Sunday evening. It should be a fun year.

Sweet Sixteen

The Tourney really heats up tonight. There should be interesting games and some great match-ups.

Who do you think will come through the weekend as the Final 4? As of right now, all of my elite 8 and all of my Final 4 teams are left, but of course that change in an instant with the frenzy that is known as March Madness.

I hope you enjoy some hoops tonight.

ESPN - Men's Tournament Challenge: This Hope Group Page

ESPN - Men's Tournament Challenge: This Hope Group Page

Easter Week

“Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.” Isaiah 53:4-6 (NASB) This passage of Scripture that the prophet Isaiah was inspired to write prophesied about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It was written some seven hundred years before the events we celebrate actually took place.

This week we remember the Last Supper, the mockery of a trial, the Crucifixion, the Burial, and the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was abandoned and betrayed by His disciples. He was beaten, mocked, spit on, slapped, and made to carry His own cross to the “place of the skull.” He endured these atrocities for mankind’s sin. He was nailed to the cross for the entire world. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21 (NASB) His death had to take place in order for humanity’s sin to be forgiven. His blood had to be shed for mankind’s forgiveness. “…and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Hebrews 9:22 (NASB)

Praise the Lord! He is alive. He conquered death and the tomb. “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,” 1Corinthians 15:3-4 (NASB). The Lord Jesus Christ is alive. He is no longer in the tomb. He desires to transform your heart if you will trust in Him. He desires for you to be “born again” (John 3) which means to be “born from above” or to be spiritually transformed by the grace of Jesus Christ. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 (NASB).

If you have not been born again, my prayer is that the Holy Spirit will convict you of your sins and that you will trust in Jesus Christ for salvation. May the Lord receive the glory as we celebrate the Resurrection this Sunday.

John 3:16

"For God so loved the world..." probably the most quoted and well-known biblical verses. God gave His Son, Jesus Christ, to sacrifice Himself for humanity's sin. It was the only way for God's wrath to be satisfied. Jesus Christ's death on the cross satisfied the Father's wrath toward sin.

An article I read by Dr. Charles Lawless, Dean of The Billy Graham School of Church Growth, Evangelism, and Missions at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, reflected his inability to sleep at night reflecting on the 1.7 billion in the world who have not trusted in the gospel. Some of them have never heard about Jesus and what He did on the cross or some of them have heard and have not trusted in Him. I wonder with Dr. Lawless when was the last time we were unable to sleep at night contemplating about the people who have not trusted in Jesus Christ.

I hope you join with me in praying for the lost and seeking opportunities to share John 3:16 with them.

3:16

For the first two weeks of March, we have been encouraging one another at First Baptist Newton to memorize verses with the reference of 3:16 in them. The first week we memorized 2 Timothy 3:16 "All Scripture is inspired by God...", and the second week we memorized 1 Corinthians 3:16 "...you are a temple of God...". I hope you have been sharing these verses with your family and memorizing them personally.

May the Lord bless you as you hide His Word in your hearts.

Hello Everyone

I am attempting my first efforts at a blog. We will see what happens with it.