And the Spirit said . . .

First I must apologize, if there is anyone out there reading this, for being so neglectful in writing on this blog. I haven't posted for almost 6 months. My excuse is that I have been majoring on my other Blog, "Life Together." Thus, I confess that the Spirit said for me to do some work in this venue. The subject of this posting relates to what else the Spirit told me.

I intended for this blog to generally relate to where I see the Spirit moving in our world, but also to present how the Spirit is leading to me as I minister as pastor of Bay View Baptist Church. For the past couple of months I have been preaching and teaching about ministering to our Oikos. I guess that I have to define Oikos first. This is a Greek word meaning household. As we read the Bible we see that God seems to usually reach people their household. A household consists of relatives, servants and hangers on who make up the network of people around us. In our society we might define it as those 8-15 people who have been placed in our lives so that we can be missionaries to them. I have been learning about the concept of seeing this as the means to evangelize through the head of my mentor group, Tom Mercer. He is the pastor of High Desert Church, a mega church located in Victorville, CA. This is the concept that I have been teaching to my people.

About 6 weeks ago I sensed that God was telling me that I was to teach the people through a study of the Gospel of John; I was to preach an open-ended series moving through that Gospel. I thought, "I like that idea. I'll do that after the first of the year." About a month ago I read a post written by one of my heroes, John Piippo, pastor of Redeemer Church in Monroe, MI, where he was expressing the blessings that had transpired in that church as they had just completed a five year journey through all of the gospels. I thought that this was interesting. I also saw this as a confirmation that God was indeed speaking to me about the opportunity and necessity of concentration on this Gospel.

Later that week as I was spending time with the Lord, I heard him say, "Have you heard me when I told you to teach the Gospel of John?" I answered, "Of course, Lord. I intend to do that after the first of the year." "Why do you need to wait? Can't you start now? Indeed, this is what I want you to do!" he said. I looked a little like my little Pug -- Oso -- I was caught!

I hadn't been listening! Well, I got the word, and I started that week -- Oct. 17. I gave my first teaching on the Gospel of John.

I intend to follow up with these teachings on this blog. This should keep me writing at least once per week to keep up with the sermons. You may see a few more initially because I am playing catch-up.