Scott's Thoughts – Sun, Aug 11, 2024
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Misc Items
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Been on Vacation, Good to be Back – Speaking of consistently having new folks, we Wakefields were gone the last couple weeks of July because every summer we go to Michigan to see and be with friends and family, which means I miss 2 Sundays in a row, which means I feel really out of the loop, which means I always come back more thankful for our church community, learning yet again that I deeply love, desperately need, badly depend on, and can’t wait to be back with the body of Christ!
Love Rhetoric is Only Real as it’s Lived – Believe me, I get it. You can’t care about everything, even if you feel like you do, feel like you want to, etc. But the truth of the matter is this: If you care about it, you will take responsibility for it. I hear a lot of emotional love and care rhetoric without taking hardly one iota of personal responsibility to do much about the thing about which we supposedly care. We’d all be helped if the intensity of our expression matched the level of our tangible care.
Unique Roles ≠ Exclusive Roles – When it comes to the roles of men and women in relationship to one another in the home, church, and community, unique and complementary roles doesn’t mean exclusively so, as if, in the language we’re using for our current series on Biblical manhood and womanhood, only men lead and only women nurture. That would be an exclusive understanding of roles. Rather, what makes it a complementary relationship is that, according to God’s pre-Fall creation order by which He designed us all to carry out His mission of working and keeping (Genesis 2:15, 18), it requires men and women to carry out unique roles in this sense: spiritual leadership is a particularly male thing and being a nurturing helper is a particularly female thing; not exclusively, as if women never lead at all and men never nurture at all, but certainly uniquely, in ways that are particular to being a man or woman. (For those needing justification for using the word unique in this wider sense rather than a narrow one, see some of these definitions and explanations re usage.)
Normal People Serving is Encouragement and Secret Sauce – I think this is another post-vacation observation, and I know this is a significant part of the Biblical model for the church and shouldn’t be an anomaly, but FCC doesn’t work if we don’t all pitch in. Our mission doesn’t advance powerfully if we don’t heavily lean on people who are normal non-ministry-professionals and not professional ministry staff. I think so many churches are designed, largely unwittingly, to keep ministry away from the ‘non professionals,’ and while there’s a lot we don’t get right, I am grateful to be part of a church where we (are at least trying!) help people discover and develop their gifts by using them! At this point, reading back through this, I’ve concluded this is just another typically complicated Scott-Wakefield-way of saying thank you for serving and being the secret sauce that makes us tick and that God is using to reach our community and world with the gospel! I am encouraged every Sunday as I witness the miracle of God using normal broken people like you and me. Indeed, those are the only kind He uses!
Love Rhetoric is Only Real as it’s Lived – Believe me, I get it. You can’t care about everything, even if you feel like you do, feel like you want to, etc. But the truth of the matter is this: If you care about it, you will take responsibility for it. I hear a lot of emotional love and care rhetoric without taking hardly one iota of personal responsibility to do much about the thing about which we supposedly care. We’d all be helped if the intensity of our expression matched the level of our tangible care.
Unique Roles ≠ Exclusive Roles – When it comes to the roles of men and women in relationship to one another in the home, church, and community, unique and complementary roles doesn’t mean exclusively so, as if, in the language we’re using for our current series on Biblical manhood and womanhood, only men lead and only women nurture. That would be an exclusive understanding of roles. Rather, what makes it a complementary relationship is that, according to God’s pre-Fall creation order by which He designed us all to carry out His mission of working and keeping (Genesis 2:15, 18), it requires men and women to carry out unique roles in this sense: spiritual leadership is a particularly male thing and being a nurturing helper is a particularly female thing; not exclusively, as if women never lead at all and men never nurture at all, but certainly uniquely, in ways that are particular to being a man or woman. (For those needing justification for using the word unique in this wider sense rather than a narrow one, see some of these definitions and explanations re usage.)
Normal People Serving is Encouragement and Secret Sauce – I think this is another post-vacation observation, and I know this is a significant part of the Biblical model for the church and shouldn’t be an anomaly, but FCC doesn’t work if we don’t all pitch in. Our mission doesn’t advance powerfully if we don’t heavily lean on people who are normal non-ministry-professionals and not professional ministry staff. I think so many churches are designed, largely unwittingly, to keep ministry away from the ‘non professionals,’ and while there’s a lot we don’t get right, I am grateful to be part of a church where we (are at least trying!) help people discover and develop their gifts by using them! At this point, reading back through this, I’ve concluded this is just another typically complicated Scott-Wakefield-way of saying thank you for serving and being the secret sauce that makes us tick and that God is using to reach our community and world with the gospel! I am encouraged every Sunday as I witness the miracle of God using normal broken people like you and me. Indeed, those are the only kind He uses!
Aug-Sep: “God Made Men to Lead” & “God Made Women for Nurture”
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As mentioned in a couple previous Scott’s Thoughts postings, we’re (sorta) taking a small break from our normal pattern of preaching verse-by-verse (i.e., as God revealed it!) to do a series I’ve wanted to do for a long time that I think is timely and important in our morally confused culture. (Btw, I say “sorta” because each week’s focus will be taught mostly from one or two main passages, verse-by-verse, but they won’t necessarily be within the same book from week to week, as normal.)
For 4 weeks each, we’ll focus on what the Bible says about the essential purpose and roles of a man and woman. They’ll both follow the format of covering the basic purpose/roles of manhood/womanhood in week 1, followed by the application of purpose/roles to the contexts of home, church, and community, like this:
Note: Though much of it will assume the basic building block of male-female marriage and baby-making (which, for those already hyperventilating, is literally the building block of civilization and the God-ordained institution on which your very life literally depends), all of it will apply to anyone who is, track with me here, male or female. I.e., I mean this as extensively as stated—whether young, old, single, married, lots of kids, can’t have kids, with or without dogs, cats, goats, chickens, and whether you churn your own butter or buy it at Publix—twill apply to all males and females.
For 4 weeks each, we’ll focus on what the Bible says about the essential purpose and roles of a man and woman. They’ll both follow the format of covering the basic purpose/roles of manhood/womanhood in week 1, followed by the application of purpose/roles to the contexts of home, church, and community, like this:
- Aug 11, 2024 – “A Man’s Purpose is to Lead: God Put the Man in the Garden to Work It and Keep It” (Genesis 2:4-25)
- Aug 18, 2024 – “A Man’s Home: Lead for Spiritual Growth” (Ephesians 5:22-6:4)
- Aug 25 – “A Man’s Church: Lead for Missional Unity” (Acts 15)
- Sep 1 – “A Man’s Community: Lead for Productive Institutions” (Genesis 1:26-31; 2:5-25; Jeremiah 29:4-9)
- Sep 8 – “A Woman’s Purpose is for Nurture: Created as a Helper Fit for Him” (Genesis 2:18-25; 1 Corinthians 11:8-9; Titus 2:3-5; Genesis 1:27; Ephesians 5:22-24)
- Sep 15 – “A Woman’s Home: Nurture for Spiritual Growth” (Ephesians 5:22-6:4)
- Sep 22 – “A Woman’s Church: Nurture for Unity and Service” (1 Timothy 2:9-15)
- Sep 29 – “A Woman’s Community: Nurture for Godly Influence” (Proverbs 31:20-31)
Note: Though much of it will assume the basic building block of male-female marriage and baby-making (which, for those already hyperventilating, is literally the building block of civilization and the God-ordained institution on which your very life literally depends), all of it will apply to anyone who is, track with me here, male or female. I.e., I mean this as extensively as stated—whether young, old, single, married, lots of kids, can’t have kids, with or without dogs, cats, goats, chickens, and whether you churn your own butter or buy it at Publix—twill apply to all males and females.
The App’s Got it All
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As we consistently have new folks at FCC, it is worth regularly making everyone aware of where to find info and resources, and it’s not so much the website, which is more directed toward those checking us out and thus contains more static info about vision and doctrine—it’s the app! We post basically all important info there, and it’s constantly changing and being updated. Check out what’s on the following “tabs” on the bottom of the app:
So, make sure to download it at fccgreene.org/app, keep it on your phone’s Home Screen, and stay informed!
- HOME: Featured Posts (like the wonderful recap of Pine Cove City!), Weekly Sermon Guide, Giving, Connect Card, Stay Informed, Prayer Requests, and Streaming
- NEXT STEPS: The entire Next Steps process—instructions, 7 Habits videos, booklet, 7 Habits Growth Plan, and additional training and FAQs videos
- PULSE: Calendar, Latest Pulse Video, Latest Sunday Recap Video, Latest News Stories (which aggregates posts from all categories), Prayer Guide, H7 Stories, Scott’s Thoughts, Great Questions Answered, Elders Letters, and more
- WATCH (divided into “Sermons” and “Media” sub-tabs at the top): Sermons from 2019 to today (we’re working on uploading older series), Weekly Bible Study Podcast, Pulse & Sunday Recap Videos, Brown Bags & Bibles (over 120 episodes on biblical/theological topics, 45ish mins each), Coffee Convos (over 80 episodes that are 30ish minute interviews of God’s work in the lives of FCCers and through community org’s), Marriage Team (15 training videos), Re:generation Recovery (almost 60 testimony and training videos), and more
- BIBLE: 6 English and 2 Spanish versions, Audio Bible, and Bible Reading Plan
So, make sure to download it at fccgreene.org/app, keep it on your phone’s Home Screen, and stay informed!
Pulpit Supply Team Preaching at New Hope Christian Church
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I’ve mentioned this a couple times in previous posts, so some of you may already know, but I suspect most don’t remember. Last September, we came upon a small local church that needed some people to preach for them until they found a permanent Pastor. So we put together a rotating team of about 12 men in our congregation, most of whom are youngsters interested in pastoral and preaching ministry, to preach through our Gospel of John series. Well, less than a year later, we’re about to start at our 4th church on Sun, Aug 18! The previous 3 are former United Methodist Churches and this one is a Christian Church just over 30 minutes away in Rogersville. I’m so glad we have the opportunity to help feed a local flock and develop faithful preachers. Please pray for God’s continued leading, for us and for this church who needs faithful preaching.
Posted in Scotts Thoughts