Blogging from the beach

True Love

gwcrocker — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:34:39 +0000

Today is Valentine’s Day, a day of love and passion. A day card makers, chocolate companies and rose distributors are extremely happy about.

But just what is “True Love”?

As a noun it means a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person. As a verb it carries the meaning to have a profoundly tender, passionate affection for.

Movies define it as “Your soul’s recognition of its counterpart in another”

But God defines it as the best gift ever bestowed upon man by Him. 1 Corinthians 13:3-8 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing. 4 Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 8 Love never faileth

May I just say that you don’t need to confuse yourself between love and lust. When looking for True Love, you need to go no further than to see what God did for you because of His love for you. Then search for someone that will love you like God loves you. Then you will find your True Love. 1 John 4:8 tells us the God is Love.

What’s love got to do with it? Everything my friend, EVERYTHING.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life

Reflections:

gwcrocker — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 14:03:36 +0000

Since 2008 I have lost three dear women in my life. My mom died in 2008, my Aunt died in 2009 and two weeks ago my Grandmother died. All three of these ladies had a huge impact on my life and the way I live my life now. All three are now in heaven and enjoying the splendor of our glorious Savior.

I am reminded of the words that Paul told Timothy about his mother and grandmother in 2 Timothy 1 and how they taught him from an early age the right things in life. How to be respectful, how to have good manners and about Jesus Christ. That is what all three of these women did with me. They were always teaching me something, even when I didn’t realize they were doing it. How beautiful heaven will be because of these three wonderful women.

While I deeply miss them being here with me, I rejoice in knowing that none of them are suffering from the illnesses that plagued them here on this earth. I miss the summer months spent at my grandmother’s house in the country and all the wonderful things she did for me as her grandson. It wasn’t because our was related to her that she did these things for me, she did them because she loved me (just as she loved all 14 of us grandkids). My grandmother defined the word GRANDMOTHER! My Aunt, though confined to a wheelchair, never ceased to amaze me with all she could and would do. She was a strong woman of God and she loved Jesus and never allowed her handicap to hinder her in serving Him. She ensured that my weeks with her were fun and meaningful and we never missed a Sunday service (even though back then I wasn’t a Baptist).

And what can I say about my mother except she was truly the best. Hard and firm while at the same time soft and loving (only a mother can do that). There is not a day goes by that I don’t think of her and wish I could talk to her one more time. Oh I still talk to her in my own way, but it is just not the same. I am thankful for my church planting a tree in her honor so I can spend some time out there and reflect on how wonderful she was to me and how thankful I am for God giving me her for a mother.

While we always think of three wise men in the Christmas Story, I am thankful God gave me three wise women in my life story to teach me and train my in the ways of the Lord. “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6

I have no doubt that all three of these wonderful women heard these words from our gracious God “Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord”

So my final words to my mom, aunt Von, and grandmother are simply “Thank you and I love you. Look forward to our glad reunion day in glory”

TIS THE SEASON…..

gwcrocker — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 15:52:11 +0000

You probably think I am going to say “to be jolly, fa la la la la la la la la”. While it is that time of year, I am not talking about that at this time. What I am talking about is it is the season when politicians and political parties get very “religious” and we seem to fall prey to it every four years also.
I remember during my first year here and it was Bush vs Kerry and how the political parties would call and ask us to do a voter registration drive campaign and how much the parties needed us to be involved in the voting process (which I agree, we do need to be involved). But as soon as Election Day was over, so was any concern for religious organizations. That is until 2008 rolled around and it was Obama vs McCain, then it was time for us religious organizations to be called upon to “do our part” and be involved in the great democratic process of electing our next President of the United States.
Now it wasn’t only the political parties, it was also the politicians. My how “religious they get from November of the year before the election, until the day after the election. Once again, sadly we fall prey to this tactic too of “look how religious I am” or “look at the big church I attended on Sunday to worship with the common folk”. Shame on us for playing this game and not listening to God and following His Word on electing our leaders. Before you accuse me of judging, I am not, but I am a fruit inspector and the Word of God says in Matthew 7:20 “Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” Folks, let me remind you that God told the children of Israel that they did not want a king like the other nations had and He even laid out everything that a king like that would do to them. After hearing all that this king would do and take from them and also hearing God say, I have a king planned for you, but it is not time for Him to sit on that throne yet, they still said “GIVE US A KING”. And because of non obedience and wanting to be like everyone else, God in His permissive will gave them King Saul, and you know the rest of the story. You can find this in 1 Samuel 8.
So instead of falling prey to “this time of the season in politics”, may I suggest that we as Baptist, who say we stand firm on The Book and nothing but the Book (which we should), stop letting the media or anyone else decide for us who we will vote for. If we are going to see America return to God, it will not be done under pagan leadership and it will not be done if born again believers keep electing men and women who only regard God during the election process in order to get your vote. It should not ever be based on a political party; we should take what a candidate is running on and give it the Word of God test. If it doesn’t line up with God’s standard, then move to the next one and do the same thing. I don’t vote a political party, I vote for those who pass the test of God’s Word.
By the way, when the political parties called us in 2008 to do another voter registration drive, I told them NO and they were shocked. I told them I do not appreciate them only calling on us once every four years and then “forgetting” about us until “TIS THE SEASON…..”
God help us get back to His Word and His ways.

Oh the weather outside is…….

gwcrocker — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 18:50:45 +0000

Amazingly the weather has great affect on people when it comes to church attendance, yet has little affect at any other time. Living here in Jacksonville Florida I get to experience many beautiful days, along with those “dog days of summer”. Sunday seems to be the only day however that people really pay attention to the forecast and really adhere to it according to their favorite weather man.

On those beautiful days with the sun shining bright and no clouds in the sky, people flock to the beach to “catch some rays” and enjoy the ocean. On those days when the clouds roll in (or even threaten to roll in) we shiver and shake with the thought of possibly getting wet and maybe, just maybe catching a cold. So we curl back up in bed to stay nice and safe and warm. Now remember, this is only on a Sunday. Work days we will trudge out in any type of weather as long as we are attempting to make some money. As a matter of fact we probably do not even watch our favorite weather man from Sunday evening – Thursday evening. Not only will we go outside and do things because of work, but also because of entertainment events. Let me state right here that I am not against entertainment events, I love being able to enjoy them, when it is appropriate for me to. But Pastor Greg, I have to pay my bills, so I cannot allow the weather to stand in my way. But Pastor Greg, Sunday is just a part of my weekend off, doesn’t God want me to enjoy it?

First, yes God expects us to pay our debts. However, He does not expect us to put ourselves in positions to where we now work ourselves out of placing Him first in our lives. “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Ex 20:3). Maybe this is a good time to examine our spending habits and separate our wants versus our needs. There is a bigger payday coming someday.

Second, yes God wants us to enjoy life while here on this earth, but not at the expense of losing our fellowship with Him and with other believers. God expects us to rest on His day and be fed the spiritual food to help maintain a healthy spiritual body. “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Heb 10:25)

Let’s not let the weather affect our service to God. It doesn’t affect us any other day of the week. Let me encourage you to be in God’s House on His day and worship and thank the Creator of the weather that is outside. He alone is worthy of that worship.

Oh the weather outside…….Belongs to God! He speaks and it obeys. Are you just as obedient as the weather?

Has the day of rest become a day of stress?

gwcrocker — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 20:10:32 +0000

Gen 2:1-3 “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.”

Ex 20:8-11 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.”

I find it interesting over these past 11 years that I have been an ordained minister of the Gospel how stressful the Lord’s Day has become. Think on that for just a moment. It is supposed to be the Lord’s Day, which says to me I should do things that are pleasing to Him. When God looked out over all He had created, He saw it all and said “it was very good” and then He gave the land a day of rest. Why then have “church members” turned the day of rest into a day of stress?

I by no means am a bodybuilder, but I do understand the concept of body building in that you have to let your body rest in order for the workouts to take total effect. Then shouldn’t we do the same thing? Just because the world has made it a 7 day work week, does not mean we have to treat Sunday as a “work day”; we should rest in the Lord on that day especially. The devil goes into high gear on late Saturday night and doesn’t relinquish the pressure until Sunday night. He will start adding stress to your thoughts and pretty soon you are upset before anything has ever happened just with the idea of “what will happen if such and such does happen.” Have we ever thought how ridiculous that sounds and is? I guess you could say Sunday is the one day most everyone puts on their armor, but that is to try and withstand the attacks of their “brothers and sisters” in Christ.

Jesus said that His church would stand and the gates of hell would not prevail. I believe it is time we reclaim the Lord’s Day and repent and give it back to His rightful owner, God Himself. Stop worrying about the “what if’s” and the “who is or is not doing something” and simply say “God your will be done in my life” and also “Lord, what would you have me do”. This world is stressful enough, why bring it into God’s House on His day?

I want to rest in the Lord and with the Lord on His day, don’t you?

Be Thou My Vision

gwcrocker — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 17:26:43 +0000

“Be thou my vision, oh Lord of my heart”. Interesting words with an incredible clarity. Everyone wants a clear vision, most expect a “new vision”, because the old one is not good enough.

I don’t know how many times I have been asked in my ministry and even during conferences / seminars “what is my vision”. The funny thing is I have even been told that vision was / is too vague. I was even told by one of my teachers it had to encompass more “qualities”.

My vision has been and still is the same as God’s, “…not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” 2 Peter 3:9. My vision is the fulfillment of the Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20) under the full obedience of the Great Commandment (Mark 12:30). One will not do the Great Commission if they do not embrace the Great Commandment

Sometimes we wait for a new revelation from God on what we should be doing or “honing” in on, when to me it is very simple. Jesus said He would build His church on one thing; the confession of believers just like Peter made in Matt 16:16 “…Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus went on to say that the carnal man does not understand this, but it is the spirit inside of man listening to the Spirit of God when it is revealed to him and he believes “…for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” Matt 16:17.

So my vision is the same as Jesus’. For the Spirit of God to infiltrate the heart of man as the people of God proclaim the Great Commission because they believe and obey the Great Commandment.

Nothing new, nothing fancy, very simple. Imagine, EACH ONE REACHING ONE in obedience to the Word of God. That is my vision oh Lord of my heart!

A Baptist and the latest Article?

gwcrocker — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 10:49:06 +0000

I subscribe to churchleaders.com which means that every morning in my email I get a few articles on “leading the church”. I must say that if I was to truly try and follow all the “advice” given by the “experts” I would be like a dog chasing his tail and if I ever caught it I wouldn’t know what to do with it. I just finished reading one by someone identified as a “clarity evangelist”, yes I typed it correctly, a clarity evangelist. Shouldn’t we all have that title since the Word of God tells us all to “do the work of an evangelist” (2 Tim 4:5). I would hope the word of God is clear to us all that we are to evangelize.

Other the past few weeks here are few of just the headlines of articles I as a leader siphoned through:

6 Vehicles for Church Vision: How Many Are You Using?
How Can Churches Make the Most Out of Google Plus?
3 Ways to Respond to “Churches Only Want Money”
4 Ways You Can Lead Like Jesus
Team Leadership: Are You Doing It All Wrong?
2 Signs Your Church Embraces the Vision
The New Normal of Preaching
The Problem with Deeper Teaching
7 God-Directed Deviations in Disciple-Making
Are Volunteers Worth the Hassle?
Removing the U from Failure
Should Your Church Create a Social Media Policy?
9 Steps to Unleash Greatness in Others
When Teaching Creates a Barrier to Change

I think you get my point. Sometimes I think we as Baptists have gotten to the point of waiting on the “next article” from our appointed leaders in the denomination that we forget the Word of God and how God has already taught us to lead. In this day and age of “social media” we are simply addicted to the next “tweet” so that we can “tweet” something even cleverer than that person so we might even get it “re’tweeted”. Don’t get me wrong, I like twitter; I get some great words from some great men of God and even some great laughs throughout the day.

What would happen if we took a sabbatical from all this for a while and simply got back to the basics of “Thus saith the Lord” and not responding to everything the world wants to throw at us.

What if we simply went back to being, as Dr Jerry Vines greatly preached to bring our convention back to conservatism, “A Baptist and his Bible”. My guess is God would be pleased because we would be following the guidelines and blueprints on leadership in this world according to Him. Now there is a sermon every leader should read.

Tuscaloosa Alabama Mission Trip

gwcrocker — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 20:42:05 +0000

Having just returned from a week of volunteer work in T-town, I thought I would share a few of my reflections from the past week First, T-town will bounce back, but it will be years from now, not months. There was so much damage that the task now is trying to get all of that debris out and away from the roadside so that buildings and homes can be rebuilt.

Second, the process is slow because too many agencies are involved and the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. The stuff by the road or in piles in a parking lot or field need only to be picked up by heavy equipment or burned in a controlled burn. Not moved from one spot to the other so the volunteers can be “kept busy”. Someone needs to take charge and everyone else needs to get to work. The place that needs the most help right now is the distribution warehouse on 15^th street (TES). They have to be out of the storage area they are in right now in North Port by the first of the month and no one seems to understand this. If me and the other 5 guys would have been sent there on our first day instead of our last, I guarantee we would have got them out of there this week. So if you go and volunteer ask to be put there until they are 100% moved

Third, it was sad to see some homes and buildings not even touched yet with help, yet because of insurance companies or FEMA, we were not allowed to do anything to help. WHAT? Makes no sense to me. There even was one of those electronic road signs that said this “Operation Clean Sweep, Private Property Clean Up, 345-6600”; I called the number and told the lady there were 6 men up from Jacksonville Florida and we wanted to know where to go and help. I was told we could not help, it was only for people who owned land or property and that FEMA was running it, I explained it again that we wanted to help and she told me that we could not help. I hung up in disgust.

Finally, we made some great friends while there. We helped a lot of people and we saw people really grateful for us being there. Would I do it again, IN A HEARTBEAT!

As I looked around T-town I was reminded that a lot more than Tuscaloosa was affected by this tornado. A lot more communities and cities across our country need help. So every chance you get, make a sacrifice and help in some way, even it is as simple as handing out water to the workers or sweeping the floor of a warehouse to be prepared for the next load of goods that arrive. I thanked God for everything I have before I left T-town; knowing that in 30 seconds or less, I could lose it all. Be thankful for what you do have and as you can, serve others before yourself. JOY truly means this Jesus, Others,Yourself. My mission trip this week proved that fact once again.

Thanks to Jim Bailey, Brian Hoffman, Chris Flores, Mike Patterson, and Teshawn Bachan for going with me and ministering with me. They were a blessing to this pastor.

Compromise: The Deadliest Word in any Church!

gwcrocker — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 17:15:18 +0000

Compromise (n) “a settlement of a dispute in which two or more sides agree to accept less than they originally wanted”

Something accepted rather than wanted. “Something that somebody accepts because what was wanted is unattainable”

Potential danger or disgrace. “exposure to danger or disgrace”

Compromise (v) Agree by conceding, lessen value of something

Why in the world would the church even consider compromise based on these meanings, yet we are asked to do this constantly without any concern of what it does to the body of Christ. What compromise is really saying is that there is a selfish bone in your body and you want that urge fed and you are willing to settle for something less than the fullness of God.

Why can’t we have this type of music
Why can’t women be preachers
What is wrong with a homosexual preacher or teacher
Maybe there are errors in the bible and so we don’t need to teach the controversial issues
Don’t preach on hell and eternal damnation, after all God is Love
Other religions are ok and we should welcome them in our services to share equal time, after all we are told to “love our enemies” and what better way to love them than to invite them to join us and we will join them. Again, we are suppose to love our neighbors.

Well pastor you don’t have to do it every week, how about just once a month? Let me ask you this, would you compromise your house once a month and allow drug dealers to use it? What about having a drunken party for all lifestyles to enjoy? Maybe open your house once a month to thieves and burglaries. After all it will only be for that one day, what harm could it do?

Have we forgotten what God told His people to do when they came into the land of Canaan? Num 33:50-56 “And the Lord spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying, 51 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan; 52 Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places: 53 And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it. 54 And ye shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families: and to the more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer ye shall give the less inheritance: every man’s inheritance shall be in the place where his lot falleth; according to the tribes of your fathers ye shall inherit. 55 But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. 56 Moreover it shall come to pass, that I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto them.”

Or what Jesus did when He saw the temple being compromised Matt 21:12-13 “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, 13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.”

And what He told the disciples when He sent them out into the cities Mark 6:10-11 And he said unto them, In what place soever ye enter into an house, there abide till ye depart from that place. 11 And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear you, when ye depart thence, shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.”

Now you tell me if the word or even the thought of compromise came into these teachings. If there is neither then why are you asking me to compromise? Why are you asking the body of Christ to compromise?

The church is built on a confession of Jesus Christ as “the Christ, the son of the living God” and that cannot be compromised. When Peter tried to tell Jesus that His plans should not go on as he thought they should, Jesus said “Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.” Matt 16:23

Compromise was offensive to Jesus and it should be just as offensive to us. I know this because I have tried this road before and have been rewarded with the offensive mess it leaves behind. You see it asks for once a month, but as soon as it got that, it asked for more with the statement of “see that wasn’t so bad or painful”. When in all honesty it hurt tremendously and was offensive to the nostrils of God.

My experiment with compromise is over and I will not travel that road again because I truly “accepted less than I originally wanted” and it “exposed me to danger & disgrace”. I am willing to take the hit on this one and the bumps in the road it will bring, but I will not COMPROMISE my beliefs and what God has shown me clearly in prayer, in preaching, in my devotions, and in listening to other sermons. I am a conservative Baptist and I will stand firm on the Word of God and I will not move from it to the left or the right. Remember to the left and right of Jesus was two thieves!

Just my thoughts on this important topic

Rev Gregory W Crocker

Pastor

First Baptist Church of Atlantic Beach