In brief, here are the 10 points of the document:

I. A Commitment to Christ’s Lordship.

II. A Commitment to Gospel-Centeredness.

III. A Commitment to the Great Commandments.

IV. A Commitment to Biblical Inerrancy and Sufficiency.

V. A Commitment to a Healthy Confessional Center.

VI. A Commitment to Biblically Healthy Churches.

VII. A Commitment to Sound Biblical Preaching.

VIII. A Commitment to a Methodological Diversity that is Biblically Informed.

IX. A Commitment to a More Effective Convention Structure.

X. A Commitment to Distinctively Christian Families.

Dad had a great report at his doctor’s appointment on Friday. He is on the mend! He’s continued to lose weight (most likely from the loss of the excess fluid in his abdomen), but we hope he’s bottomed out now and will begin putting it back on very soon. His appetite is healthy, and he feels pretty good. He and Mom are trying to return to their normal routine as much as possible now. We are so very appreciative of your prayers and support! We have seen God answer our prayers time and time again. He has definitely carried us through the past five months. Please continue to pray for Dad’s strength to return and for Mom to have peace and rest as she helps care for Dad.

We’ll try to be a little more faithful to post updates, but April is looking to be a very busy month for the Millers!

One of the requirements that we have for this class is to complete 1,500 pages of reading on a selection of books on the subject of marriage and family. The first book that Jenny and I chose to read was Ten Secrets for a Successful Family by Adrian Rogers. This is a wonderful and powerful book that looks to the Ten Commandments to give us a guide to build our family foundations upon. Let me give you a word of warning IT IS VERY CONVICTING! I recommend this book even if you do not have a family, or your family is already grown and gone. Personally it gave me a fresh new look at the importance of the Ten Commandments.

I said all of this to give you a powerful quote that I found in this book. It is from ABC News’s Ted Koppel in his address to the graduating class of Duke University. Here is a portion of what he said: (p. 94)

“In the place of truth we have discovered facts; for moral absolutes, we have substituted moral ambiguity. We now communicate with everyone and say absolutely nothing. We have reconstructed the Tower of Babel and it is a television antenna, a thousand voices producing a daily parody of democracy in which everyone’s opinion is afforded equal weight regardless of substance or merit. Indeed, it can even be argued that opinions of real weight tend to sink with barely a trace in television’s ocean of banalities…What Moses brought from Mount Sinai were not Ten Suggestions; they are Commandments. Are, not were. The sheer beauty of the Commandments is that they codify in a handful of words acceptable human behavior, not just for then or now, but for all time.�

Wow! I am not sure if Ted is a Christian, but what a powerfully true statement. As Christians we have allowed the culture to water down the Ten Commandments, and we have no one to blame but ourselves. We can cast the blame upon the media, universities, or the government. However, in the end we must face ourselves in the mirror and ask ourselves how faithful have we been to follow them. We get mad when a judge tells us that we have to remove them from federal property, but how many of us even have them in our houses?

I hope that this post has caused you to reflect a little upon the attitude that you have toward the Commandments yourself. I challenge you to read them again, and to look at each one of them and ask the Lord if you have failed Him in anyway toward that commandment. May we all build our lives upon the Ten Commandments that will remain true for all time! May God bless you in your efforts!

Well, today in my Quiet Time I ran across this issue and I thought that I’d share it with you. For part of my Quiet Time I read My Utmost For His Highest by Oswald Chambers. (If you’ve never read it, I highly recommend it!) Today he deals with Faith in regards to persistence. He describes the Christian life as a bow and arrow. The Lord has us in His hands and he is aiming us at a mark. We do not know where that mark is, and quite frankly we don’t like being in the position that we are in. As He draws the arrow back be begin to feel the pressure and tension mounting. We begin to get uncomfortable, yet we must remain persistent in our faith towards Him if we are to hit the mark He has for us.

“Faith is not some weak and pitiful emotion, but is strong and vigorous confidence built on the fact that God is holy love. And even though you cannot see Him right now and cannot understand what He is doing, you know Him. Disaster occurs in your life when you lack the mental composure that comes from establishing yourself on the eternal truth that God is holy love. Faith is the supreme effort of your life-throwing yourself with abandonment and total confidence upon God.” – Oswald Chambers

Do we have that kind of faith? God has given His Son for us, to save us from our sins. He has paid a great price to redeem us. There are areas in our lives that are still untouched by faith. We still harbor in our hearts things that we do not trust God to take are of. Today we must! We must give ourselves over in total abandonment to our Lord. He is the one who will keep us safe during times of trouble. It is only through our faith in Him, that we can survive this present age.

Here are some verses to meditate on!

“Because of the Lord’s great Love we are not consumed, for his compassion never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘the Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him’” – Lam. 3:22-24

“Though he brings grief, he will show compassion, so great is his unfailing love.” – Lam. 3:32

“O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.” – Ps. 139:1-3

“Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” – Isa. 41:10

“Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” – Ps. 50:15

“The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust Him.” – Nahum 1:7

Last week we had our annual missions conference at Providence. As always, it was an incredible time of rejoicing of what God has been doing all over the world. Not to mention it was a challenging time as well. I know that Jenny has already explained a little about the conference, but I want to expand upon that and elaborate on where we stand a week later.

Our speaker for the Sunday was Dr. Ron Kline. He gave two incredible sermons to challenge the people. Two of the people that he challenged were my wife and I. His message was from Matt. 9:35-38. His sermon breaks down into three points. 1) We’ve forgotten who the workers are, 2) We’ve forgotten what the work is, and 3) We’ve forgotten how it works.

Jenny and I have always said that we are open to missions. We know that there is a great need for the gospel to be spread across the world. Not to mention that I get frustraighted with the American church. We sit so passively in our pews, while our brothers and sisters around the world are dying for their faith. Our faith is so shallow!!! (I’m speaking of myself as well.) CHURCH what is our problem!! The church in China is growing by the thousands every day. There are millions of Christians in China, and I’ve heard some reports as high as a billion. Yes, we are speaking about communist China where it is illegal to be a Christian. Our brothers and sisters have a vibrant faith that is incomprehensible to the American Christian. They are suffering every day for their faith, yet they do not pray for the persecution to end. Rather they desire for it to intensify. They count it as an honor to suffer for their Lord. It reminds me off the great church father Tertullian who said, “The blood of the martyrs are the seed of the church.�

Putting all of this preaching aside, Jenny and I have been challenged to possibly go to the mission field. We do not know if that is where we are to spend our lives, but we are willing if that is what the Lord desires. At this point, we are totally surrendering ourselves to the will of the Father to direct our lives. Nether Jenny nor I have ever been on any sort of a mission’s trip, and that is a shame on our parts. If I am to remain in my previous call of a pastor that is fine, but we both feel that the Lord wants us to have some experience on the field. Maybe we can use it to fire up the American church.

Please remember Jenny and I in your prayers over the next few months as we continue to pray about what the Lord would have us do with our future.

Isaiah 6:4-9a
“And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 Then said I, Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. 6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: 7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. 8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. 9 And he said, Go, and tell this people (emphasis added)�

Church, what are we doing? Are we losing the battle for this world? In some ways I think that we are. I’ll be the first to admit that I do not spend enough time in the Word, but what is it going to take for us to wake up to the reality of the culture around us.

How bad is it? Here is a excerpt from Dr. Mohler’s Blog. “Some of the statistics are enough to perplex even those aware of the problem. A Barna poll indicated that at least 12 percent of adults believe that Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife. Another survey of graduating high school seniors revealed that over 50 percent thought that Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife. A considerable number of respondents to one poll indicated that the Sermon on the Mount was preached by Billy Graham. We are in big trouble.”

Let’s first look at what we believe. II Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” If the Scriptures are really that important, then why do we not read them more? Hebrews 4:12-13 says, “For the Word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” These two Scripture passages are an incredible witness to the argument that we should read, study, learn, and live our life according to the Word of God.

What are you placing as the source of authority for your life? If it’s not the Bible then it has to be something else. Is it the world? Of course not, right? Well if you look at an issue and you judge your response according to what culture dictates then your source of authority is not the Bible. Let’s not even go that far, but lets say that you are worried about what other people think about your decision, then you might be placing something else as the authority for your life. Church, we need to use the Bible as our source of authority for our life. We need to look at culture and everything that we do in it through the glasses of the Bible. We must be faithful to the Word of God. As our pastor said this morning, “If God does not find us faithful, then He will find a church that is faithful to accomplish His work.” Woe to us if we were to be found unfaithful. Father, forgive us for our lack of faithfulness to You.