So, why am I deciding to start a blog in 2017? Doesn’t it seem a little late? Probably. I’m sure I should of started this a long time ago, but I didn’t. So, here I am now. But, before I answer why I am now deciding to start a blog, I’ll have to answer why I decided to plant a church in Spruce Pine, NC.
Coming to the conclusion to plant a church was not an easy task. It was a lot of prayer, a lot of sleepless nights and a lot of discussion over meals with close friends and family. But, what kept me up at night? It was passages of Scripture like the beginning of Psalm 42:
“As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival.”
What David is saying here is “I feel like an animal that is dying of thirst. When can I meet you again, God?” David is in agony here. He’s been so close to the Lord but for some reason he can’t seem to get there again, so he’s frustrated, sleepless, weeping, pleading and remembering Scripture that reminds him of God’s faithfulness while he calls out to know Him more.
Again David in Psalm 63 says:
“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”
The NIV version of the Bible uses the word “yearns” here instead of “faints”. Yearn… that’s an intense word, right? Like it’s this deep wanting, that’s hard to explain. This “I just have to have it” kind of mentality. We often like to talk about how “Jesus is our friend” but here’s the thing. I have some close friends. But I don’t “yearn” for them. My soul doesn’t thirst for them. If we could be honest for a moment, doesn’t this almost sound lustful? Don’t freak out, I said “almost”. And I could pick a dozen passages that mirror this deep longing for the Lord. But it’s not just biblical guys like David, the Prophets or Paul. Let’s look at a couple other guys. Martin Luther says:
“Oh I wish to devote my mouth and my heart to you…do not forsake me, for if ever I should be on my own, I would easily wreck it all.”
Spurgeon says:
“I thank Thee that this, which is a necessity of my new life, is also its greatest delight. So, I do at this hour feast on Thee.”
I’ll move on after this last one because it may just gross you out a bit. Brother Lawrence said:
“I have at times had such delicious thoughts on the Lord I am ashamed to mention them.”
What do you do with that? That’s extreme right? Like without the word “delicious” that quote makes sense.
But the point is, passages and quotes like this kept me up at night. They kept me tossing and turning. Why? Because men biblically and historically longed for the Lord with agony, with all their heart, soul and might. The thing that kept me up at night was this question, “Why don’t we?” Why don’t we long for Jesus like that? Why are we so content with the way things are? Why aren’t we bothered by such a gap in our attitudes towards the Lord? Like I just don’t see Jesus being enjoyed like these men enjoyed him.
So, we planted a church after much prayer and discussion to draw people into the kind of enjoyment in the Lord that we read about in the Bible and history books. To see lives transformed by the Gospel of Jesus. We’re not looking to build just another church. But we want to transform Spruce Pine with the glory of Jesus. So that he might be enjoyed and yearned for and thirst for.
Ultimately, we landed on this vision statement to encapsulate why our church exists:
We exist to see God glorified and enjoyed through Gospel-saturated Worship, Community, Service and Multiplication.
To extend the work of The Grove Church in seeing God glorified and enjoyed, I’ve decided to finally start a blog. The blog will be the ramblings of a guy just trying to change the world with the message of Jesus. We’ll talk about things I didn’t have time to dive into during sermons, current events, life, our community, Jesus and anything else that would glorify God. Feel free to follow along or visit thegrovesp.com to find out more about our church.