Q&A with Steve and Donna Gaines

we're excited tonight to have some Q&A with brother Steve and miss Donna we asked you earlier this week to submit questions and boy did you we had over a hundred questions so needless to say we will not be able to get all of those answered we'd only have about ten-second answers to all of them also I'd like to say some of your questions there's no way I would ask cuz I value my role here at the church so but some great questions submitted and we are very excited to be with pastor and Miss Donna tonight I also want to make a quick introduction asking questions tonight as well as somebody else from our team miss Jamie Otto Jamie came here three years ago as a ministerial assistant in our high school area and quickly we saw the Lord's hand on her and for the last two years she has worked with my team and some others and she helps oversee all of our ministerial assistance which is a large task so she's with us tonight as well as gonna be asking some questions so pastor and miss Donna we are so excited to be with you guys I know that you all have a busy schedule even in this coronavirus time so thanks for doing this and this is a little different so thanks for doing this with us we did get tons and tons of questions and so we're not going to pull any punches we're gonna ask the hard questions so right off the right off the bat one of the questions we got was from one of your children who wanted to know who is your favorite child so I'll let y'all guests okay as simple the one we're with at the time at the time we'll just so you know Bethany wanted to know who your favorite child that's right there you is awesome whoa the rest of our church family also wants to get to know you two more and we would love to hear how you two met what we met at Union University Steve and I were both attending Union he transferred in from UT Martin and we started noticing each other actually dr. Bob Agee introduced us but Steve wasn't real nice to me when we first got introduced well he just kind of said oh hello and walked off so we just kind of watched each other for about a year and then we started noticing each other and got a little more interested and it wasn't long before he asked me out and the reason I was not nice to her is because when I was at UT Martin girls that were doing the things that she did like they're in sororities or cheerleaders or whatever most of them weren't really great girls and so she was doing all that stuff and so I thought she had to be a heathen you know so uh but I found out that she wasn't and we we really I think liked each other but we just our passes didn't cross very much and we started dating the first date was on December the 1st 1978 and I was hooked after that first date I said man this is the one I I'm turning in the the menu I want to make my order right here and I knew the first night that she was the one I wanted to marry so along with that some of the questions revolved around what was it about each other that drew you to one another so miss Donna you want to start that I felt called into ministry Jason when I was about 12 and I really thought that I was going to be going to the foreign mission boards so I was headed toward missions that was my direction so when Steve and I started dating I've actually been watching him and just saw he and the gosset he was in the music group with they traveled almost every weekend doing revivals and they would load up their equipment every Friday and they'd be out for the weekend and I was just watching him live for Christ on campus and was very impressed then when we went out on our first date at the end of the date we prayed together which I hadn't had many first dates with guys who would initiate praying with me and that was I was pretty impressed by that well for me it didn't hurt that she was really pretty alright so I must be honest but that was not the main thing I think the main thing is what she just said she loved the Lord and I was just kind of blown away with her love for the Lord her aunt had been a missionary and she just had a lot of depth I'm not she of course she had intellectual depth there buddy knows that but she had spiritual depth and I was just overtaken by that and I had always wanted to make sure that whoever I married and she felt a call to ministry I mean my soul that's that's a rare thing for a girl just out on her own and I'm not saying it's it never happens but I think those things and just I don't know it was just an unusual time when we prayed together that night on that first day I felt the Lord and we we held hands and we never kissed on that night or anything like that but we prayed and it's just like God filled the car and I told my buddies I said I may be wrong but I think that's the one I'm gonna marry I told him that night Wow miss Donna I think I've heard before took her along [Laughter] absolutely absolutely well that is great thanks so much for sharing and so another question kind of leading off of that is this is an unprecedented time we're talking about that in all of our conversations right now and so what personally does your time with the Lord look like right now well my personal time with the Lord hasn't changed a whole lot other than I have a little additional time now because I'm not headed out anywhere during the day since we're staying in but I get up and I have a one-year Bible and I read through the one year chronological Bible then I typically I've been reading five Psalms a day to read them through in a month and I like praying through the Psalms as I read them and also I read the proverb a day so I agree through the Proverbs every month and I've been really enjoying that then I have a time of Prayer and then I'd do my study time after that similar well I started off reading the Bible I read through at least one time of year and I'm a little bit ahead but I always do that first thing I do is read my Bible in the morning for I eat breakfast or anything else and then usually I go ahead and pray I was reading just today in Psalm 5 when it talks about in the more I will seek thee and there's something about seeking the Lord in the morning I think I don't think it's legalism you know nowadays if your discipline people will accuse you of being legalistic but I think discipline is different than legalism I think discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness a scripture Paul Tova 2 Timothy and so the first thing we do and we've done this for years even when we had kids we'd get up early and read the Bible first even before we pray and we the Bible intake and then after the Lord has talked to us we talk to him right so you talked about discipline and you can't go you probably can't go a month here at Bellevue without hearing a message that's going to go back to the spiritual disciplines it's one of the things that I know our congregation loves about both of you is that I think we would describe y'all's very disciplined so where does that come from I know it comes from the Lord but what would you attribute that to is okay I the the thing for me was you know George Guthrie and George and I played high school football together and we both went to Union the same year I had left Martin I played football there two years and then we went to Union I was a junior and he was a freshman and so we played football together in high school knew each other and so when I started living the Lord he was really about the only Christian I knew that was turned on to the Lord in Dyersburg and I'm sure there are other Christians there but I just didn't know him and so we started singing together we witnessed at jails together nursing homes everywhere else and so we would go out soul-winning after our classes at Union we'd go downtown Jackson your hometown and walk on the court and and just and ask people if they were to die where they know they'd go to heaven we were a big strong football and I think looking back it probably scared some of them anyway we went into the the Baptist bookstore just the Bible bookstore whatever there downtown there used to be by the old theater there and we found the Navigator topical memory system and I had never heard of The Navigators but they had these five disciplines that you're supposed to do all the time and one of them was Bible intake one was prayer one was witnessing one was fellowshipping with other Christians and then the fifth one was really something they just talked about on the side but it was worship and so the four spokes if you will and the wheel of discipline the ones that go this way are prayer in the Bible because it's connecting with God the ones that go this way and anybody has ever seen the Navigator materials they've seen that wheel the ones that go this way our fellowship and witnessing that goes with people so you're loving God through scripture and prayer you're loving people through fellowship and witnessing and then the whole thing is obedience to the Lord and then I threw in there over the years a fifth spoke which was worshiped because I think it's so important to do that privately and publicly so those that just became ingrained in me I mean I've taught that for years and really it's it's not you know none of those things are something I have to strive to do it's just like in the warp and the woof it's in the the mayor of my spiritual bones you know I I don't know what Christian life would look like without reading my Bible praying and witnessing and fellowshipping that's just the four things that I think everybody's got this like when you play ball basketball she played basketball in high school or when you cheer she was a cheerleader I played football you have to block you have to tackle you have to do certain things all the time and so I just think it's the fundamentals well it's feasting on the Word of God if I'm going to love the Lord with all of my heart soul mind and strength and I'm going to seek first his kingdom he has to be first in my life and so that's why I want to dedicate the first of my day to the Lord I know that I'm not fit to be a wife and a mother or any of the other roles God has called me to until I have first met with him and I have been sitting at his feet like Mary of Bethany did listening to him and then being commissioned by him as I'm filled with the spirit and I go out into my day and God has created us to be able to change the way we think and that's exactly what he does he renews our mind through his words so that we can think biblically and that is absolutely the only way to think samely is to think biblically right you know one other thing about those disciplines I think that it's okay not to feel like doing it right it's okay you don't feel like praying but you go ahead and do it and when you do it you start feeling like it that's right you obey your way into a feeling you don't feel your way into obedience don't follow your feelings oh my soul please don't follow your feelings just do the right thing and you'll get the right results that's right that's right and that is not legalism that is disciplined spiritual discipline that's right I think it was just last Sunday night you shared that yeah that exact thing I think that's important for everybody to hear brother Steven miss Donna are no different than anybody else they still have a choice that they have to make to get up and do this it is not because their life is easier or more blessed or anything like that they have to work hard with these disciplines but it's because they know that they need it it's not just because it's a box to check it's they know that they need it is what it was I'm hearing they're absolutely so outside of just disciplines spiritual disciplines specifically that you're talking about this is a time where we have lots of time on our hands and so we might be able to pull from other resources like books like podcasts things like that outside of the Bible itself would you have any books that you would recommend to anybody who's looking to just grow in their walk with the Lord she'd probably be the best one ants for that because the majority of my reading are commentaries I spend hours every week reading commentaries but I do read other books but she reads you she reads she'd be the best one to talk to the books the books that I read most people are not going to want to read okay we appreciate that you do read them though for sure I don't I don't preach other people's sermons yeah he loves to read biographies of great revivalist and Whitfield and Wesley and people like that and you're reading another one of answer right now yeah but the other biography that you're doing I've forgotten the kotas okay I love I'm rereading Dallas Willard's divine conspiracy I love Dallas Willard and he mentored and discipled a couple of other people that have written books that I really enjoy one of them the good and beautiful God and the good and beautiful life James Bryan Smith and then also John Ortberg book on soul keeping those I've been reviewing for writing curriculum for the fall so usually what I'm reading is geared toward whatever I'm studying at the time to teach so a couple other questions that some people wrote in I think are good for us we're talking about having a quiet time and it says in my quiet time I'm not hearing from God often enough any recommendations for dealing with this I think what Steve mentioned we need to remember and that is that we're not always going to feel like having our quiet time and there are times I've gone for stretches that people who've gone before us called dry periods like a desert period where you go through a period of time where you feel like God's not speaking but if you will just keep doing the right thing keep choosing Christ on a daily basis he will break through you will have one of those mountaintop experiences and you they don't come every day but they do come and that's what keeps you going back and if you will have a specific place and a specific time that you meet with the Lord that place and that time becomes sacred it becomes a holy place because it's where God has spoken to you in the past and so you go with a sense of anticipation and expectation but when Steve and I were early married and we were having children and life was busy and he was writing a PhD dissertation and you know life was extremely hectic at that time and I felt like I was going through a dry period in my personal walk with Christ and I began praying psalm 42:1 as the deer pants for the water Brooks so my soul longs for you of God and I just pled with God to make that a reality in my life and I remembered several months later after having prayed that every single day sitting and my Bible was laying up on the coffee table and I picked it up and I just could not get enough I could not get enough and I realized the Lord you have answered my prayer yes so ask him ask him he is more than willing that's right amen amen well let's talk a little bit about family yeah absolutely so I do not have children however we've gotten a lot of questions from people who do and have wondered the similar things like we're talking about right now if number one how how do you have a quiet time what does your time with the Lord look like but on top of that how do you manage all of that with a household full of kids so could you speak to that it's a lot more difficult for people who have children to be disciplined at the level that maybe we are and I'm not trying to put us on a pedestal at all because but when we are having children you know you want to go to bed early but sometimes the children you can they they're doing homework they've got things going on they don't want to talk or maybe they're not really living for the Lord at that time you know and you need to talk to them and so you have all of that going on plus your job plus your relationship with each other and then you have to get up and and mornings are very I mean you have to have a routine or it's chaotic I mean you have to and so we tried to get up an hour before the kids got up which meant we didn't get a lot of sleep a lot of times but it paid off and then later during the day I had the luxury the benefit of being able to have a study at church or if I didn't finish my prayer time or my Bible reading I could do it and then Donna was a stay-at-home mom so that after the kids now when they were younger bless her heart don't even go to the bathroom by yourself that stick but you know I think it's just harder when you're younger like that and you've got little kids it is but I tell Jamie I realized once a and I could not do what God had called me to do if I didn't spend time with him and so I shared this with young moms all the time set the alarm and make yourself get up and if you make yourself get up several days in a row you will go to bed at night because you'll be exhausted but I knew that time was just imperative I have to have that time Christ and my time with him he is my lifeline he is how my perception my perspective is adjusted he is the one who speaks to me he fills me up so that I have something to pour out and a lot of times Donna had a chair and I had a chair I would go to the back porch if it was the weather was nice but the kids would always the first thing they'd see with her mom reading their Bible and praying and so they'd come in there and they'd just sit and be quiet whatever and then she got them fixed their breakfast around help you know and I always took him to school so we had a little routine and everything but now with us we still like to go to bed fairly early and get up early we I just I think there's something about the morning and so we rarely sleep past 6 o'clock so talking about parenting and I've heard y'all say many times about hey we didn't do it perfectly you you have incredible kids and you know your kids are married to incredible people you have incredible grandkids we see that but we know that it wasn't always rosy obviously there's some parents that feel defeated in their parenting right now they have rebellious children maybe it's because of something in the parents pass and there's trying to correct that or it's just a child that's gone wayward so how would you encourage those parents I would say there's a lot of prayer and there's a lot of fasting I believe that probably I fasted more when we had teenage kids than any other time you know you laugh about it but boy you don't laugh about it when it's going on and we really monitored who they dated and who they were friends with we were very strict about that and even when they were older and it got hard but you know we had to make some hard decisions and I won't go into all the specifics because I don't want to embarrass any of our kids but you know they they tested us and we stayed strong and we realized that our number one job was not to be their friend but it was to be their parent that's right that's not always easy you know I mean people talk about teens having peer pressure parents have peer pressure and what other kids are able to do things your children aren't allowed to do I mean it makes it tough on you you question yourself am I too hard are we going to push them away I mean parenting a lot of it's trial and error especially on the first one I feel kinda bad for the first like you try out things on the first one by the time the fourth one gets around you don't get quite as been out of shape over certain things you know you take things in stride better you understand this too shall pass you know so I felt like grant got the the you know the short end of the stick there but we leaned on the Lord you've got to God gives you wisdom and it's amazing when our kids would be when grant was going through his period of rebellion God just uncovered things when you are praying as a parent God will uncover things and reveal things for their protection because he's wanting them off that path that leads to destruction he did it for the girls to know really you know we it was amazing how the Lord would just put in a check in our heart something's not going on you need to go check on them because kids don't always go where they said they're going to go they're going to be with and we would check on and you know I I just I probably was a little stout on that end you know but I I would not I would not hesitate at all to go check out see if they were where they said they'd be with whom they said they'd be a lot of times we found out they weren't I just walked right in there and said let's go yeah I'd have to leave you know it's hard it's not easy but at the same time far better to do that and let them get into trouble well because I believe and Steve and I both do that we have a very real enemy as do our children we knew some of these things are life and death decisions I mean they really are crucial decisions so that's why we've got to step it up this is a battle it's war for our children and for their future and for the good plan that God has for their lives and we weren't willing to give up that plan so we fought for it but also want to encourage parents children have a free will and our children can choose to go and run from God but if you will live Christ in front of them in such a way that they can't deny the existence of Christ in your life I do believe at some point they will come back that's right one other thing I don't want to get off this till we're through with this because this is pivotal we were not afraid to recruit other adults to pray for our children and we would not just blab it to everybody but to people that really knew how to pray that loved us and that loved our children we would recruit them to pray for them and I believe that's why I'm telling you our kids couldn't get away with anything it's like the Lord showed us stuff every time they started to be deviant or whatever the Lord showed it to us and it was really something I would encourage parents though parent for the heart yeah don't just go for outward behavior and a lot of times what we would see especially this seem to be more with the girls but when they would back talk because girls have a lot of words and they would come back with something and I would just say you know what what you're saying what's coming out of your mouth is revealing what's in your heart right now it's not very pleasant you need to get along with the Lord and get your heart right and then come back and let's take up this conversation thank you that's right I just spanked well and I yeah well yeah but I would I would also I'd ground I'll take their keys with you I would think and I definitely want to put I don't want to put words in y'all's mouths you've told the stories before I think about the story of you breaking up for your daughter with one of your daughters with Whitman that guy's a preacher that needs a preacher now but obviously for you to do those things on one hand you go wow that's stronger that's you know that's tough to do but your your kids did not rebel against y'all and obviously they walk with the Lord so I think it's important to see that they like they didn't like it right but the but like you said you were you were helping shape their hearts and helping them have a heart for the Lord so that that's not what they focused on was the hard things that y'all did like that are pulling them out of parties or whatever it was they knew you loved them and I think that would be a great encouragement for all of the parents what you're saying I would encourage parents to you the life way survey that they did that gives you those 10 things that parents had in common who now have adult children that love the Lord and are engaged in the church the number one thing is that you read the Bible daily and that was like way up there so when they see parents valuing the Word of God and spending time in the Word of God making decisions based on the Word of God that impacts your children the second one was praying the third one is service and it's not just not just that you attend church but that you actually serves somewhere in the church so you're wanting to train your children to serve others as well when you look at those things it's Deuteronomy 6 it's literally just living out deuteronomy 6 so when you value God's word and you're seeking to be a passionate pursuer of Jesus Christ right that passion is caught we can't profess something that we're not living and expect our kids to literally and we did we did have every night a little time where we'd get together and we would read one quick scripture we didn't make it laborious ly long and then we would each pray for the other one we pray for the person on the right of the Left would go around pray then we'd all take turns and say Donna I love you Donna I love you grant I love you Lindsay I love you Ally I love you Bethenny and then Donna would go all around and we don't and then at the end we'd all go we love you Jesus and then we'd seen sweet Jesus doing that we started doing dr. fish came up and did it with us one night we just had grant Lindsay Wow so we did that all the way through and it and and to this day at Christmas or whenever they're all home I can break out in sweet Jesus and everybody starts saying it's hard to stay mad at each other if you're having a hard day it's hard to stay mad when you're something sweet Jesus yeah some nights we were not all that sweet so obviously you talk about praying a whole lot and brother Steve I know several Sunday nights ago and we were still meeting together that you spoke on prayers to specifically pray for your child and if you wouldn't mind just speaking to that even briefly of what - specifically pray for what parents can specifically pray for their children well I think some of the verses that I general that I pray for our kids still to this day I pray that they will flee from youthful lusts you don't have to be youthful to have youthful lusts they'll flee from youthful lusts pursue righteousness faith love and peace with those who call upon the Lord that's something that's in one of the letters to Timothy and then I pray that they will grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ a second Peter 3:18 I pray that they will love the Lord with all their heart soul mind and strength and love their neighbor as themselves that's mark 12 30 and 31 and I pray for their churches you know four of them or three of them our children are serving in the ministry are married to somebody that is and well all for them really because David's a deacon here at Bellevue and so I pray for their their spouse every day I pray for all their children every day I pray for their children Luke 2:52 that they will increase in wisdom stature in favor with their with God and with their fellow man I also pray a verse out of Isaiah 54 I think it's verse 17 that all it no it's not verse 7 it's it's in Isaiah 54 toward the end either 13 or 14 that all of their children will be taught of the Lord all my children's children will be taught of the Lord and the well-being of those children will be great it was just a few verses that we pray and we're constantly praying the ironic blessing it's not the ironic but the Aaronic blessing and that is over in number six 24 through 26 the Lord bless you and keep you the Lord make his face shine upon you be gracious unto you lift up his countenance upon you give you his peace Psalm 91 no evil befall you no plague come near your dwelling give your angels charge concerning them to guard them in all their ways now this is isaiah 54:17 that no weapon formed against you will prosper every time that accuses you in judgment God will condemn this is the heritage of the service of the Lord and God's vindication for you is is for the Lord so I those are just a few of the verses that I pray and it's it's it's like it's just part of me you know and I'm not trying to sound like I'm mr. spiritual or anything but I'm just saying been doing it so long and I've done it today you know I tell my kids you know and not in a bragging way but I tell them if 24 hours go by I prayed for you on a sidenote brothers - even though you love music I just want to encourage if you haven't heard the blessing a song came out called the blessing a few weeks ago and it's the Aaronic blessing and when I heard it for the first time praise the Lord and then I thought oh my goodness brother Steve's gonna love this so we'll send it to you at some point all right changing gears with the the minutes that we have left obviously as Jamie's already mentioned this is a you very unique time a time like we've never been in I've heard you share you know they didn't teach this class in seminary of how to work through the coronavirus so but with that I'll be frank with some of the class I'd in seminary I would have enjoyed studying about the coronavirus more than some of the classes right right you've also mentioned I've heard in some different groups you mentioned you're eating at home a lot more so people want to know what is your favorite what is your favorite meal that miss Donna has made for you recently the one that is in front of my face oh my so we have had to cut back to two meals a day I'm just telling I got on the scales one morning it said one at a time so I said this is not working baby because and all our friends are all networking on recipes I'm right won't you network on some workout yes is there a goat cheese making us hungry is there a go to mill that she has that you love oh man I don't know I'm not trying to get you in trouble another oh you know you're not gonna be in trouble no I I don't know the only thing I don't like tell him she said she said you just put bacon around I said maybe you could put bacon around a dirt clod so I mean I don't like Brussels sprouts alright unless they're steeped in that oily stuff with the bacon all over it Russell sprouts are they're part of the fall [Laughter] I'll give you a second on that all right I think I heard she's a great cook we've you know we've been eating a lot of soup she does great soup and we've been we just we've just had a her she's a great coat yeah and by the grace of God she stopped doing all the cookies and brownies unless she does it for somebody else and she always leaves something out for me it's my duty to taste that's right really see if I will have to respectfully agree to disagree I love Brussels sprouts you can have [Laughter] exchange some recipes um but on a similar note just been in talking about all of the coronavirus craziness what would you say in your own words would be the Christian response to all that's going on I know that things are changing really day by day we're waiting on a whole lot of things this has changed the way that people not only do work but also family and relationships in overall what would you say would be the Christian response to kovat 19 I think the Lord's trying to get our attention I understand people are dying and I am NOT making light of that at all but I think that our country was in such a prosperous state and we were bragging and there is a principle in Scripture pride goes before a fall and I don't think it's just in the last year too that we've been proud I think God can show us how did this start with a little bat biting somebody you know a bat come on you know God said I can shut the whole world down with one little disease and I do think that some of it is because we're so well-connected now you know and and so more people know more information now than ever and I think that's part of it but I honestly think the Lord is trying to get our attention and I think that he even said in the verse before if my people called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face in terms of the room anyways he said if I send pestilence what is pestilence pestilence is pandemics and it's epidemics and whatever I don't know the difference really between an epidemic and pandemic so people may not even believe I'm worth talking about this but I know that it's part of disasters like that and God does that not because he's mean not because he's harsh but we forget him we are prone to wander as the song says Lord we feel it prone to leave the god we love we want to be self-sufficient we want to have all of our closets stocked up so we can go through the Quran God's saying you can depend on those resources all you want to but I'm your source and so I believe God's trying to show us that we need to seek first the kingdom of God and I want to say this to you I know that people are dying and I would not minimize any of that but we've got a sin in our nation that we don't talk about very much it's called abortion two thousand-plus babies everyday our beings not just kill but slaughtered literally slaughtered I mean slaughtered is a nice word for it it is breathtaking what has happened to those unborn children and when you say the word abortion because it's been here since 1973 it doesn't bother us anymore 47 years with it we're okay and we think that's a woman's choice what about the babies choice and what about the fact that it stops a beating heart and so maybe God looks at that and says okay you're concerned about death over here why aren't you concerned about death over here at a much higher rate can you even fathom what it would be like if somebody was bringing bus loads of kids 2,000 kids to the Memphis bridge every day little babies and throwing them off the bridge and some people say don't even talk about that well why not that's what we're doing with unborn babies every day there would be a riot there would be a war it would be stopped immediately but because it's silent and because it's spread out over 50 states and I just believe God looks at that as Molech worship and BHEL worship it is sacrificing a child on the off altar of convenience I think it is demonic I think that it is satanic I believe I believe people that have had an abortion if you repent yes you can be forgiven but I'm telling you that people who are performing abortions are killing babies they're killing babies and whenever you hear in the Old Testament in Jeremiah any of the prophets that talked about sacrificing children to bail I believe that that is no worse than what we're doing with abortion and so I don't think we're as humane as we think we are I think we're just as perverse Genesis 6:5 says that every intent of the thoughts of their heart was only evil continually before God sent the flood and think that a lot of our thoughts in our hearts are evil continually I think that if we can if we can coexist with abortion and just say it's another it's just one more sin I hear people say well you're just a one one problem person you just deal with that one well you tell me what else in America is killing 2,000 people a day name it it's not out there Planned Parenthood is one of the worst things that's ever happened to this country and I'm just telling you as long as we're okay with that I don't think we're gonna get out of anything so I think for me exactly what Steve is saying a time like this is a time to pause and evaluate and ask the Lord search me your Lord and try my heart and see if there's any wicked way in me and to repent of my own sins the sins of our nation and ask for God to have mercy on our nation but we're also need to look outside we don't Christians don't hide and hoard Christians go out and serve there have been plagues and pandemics all throughout history and Christians were the ones who went into the cities when everybody else was fleeing and they cared for the dying many of them giving their lives in the midst of it so we are the ones who go and serve so even in the midst of this when you debry praying Lord how can I serve how can I proclaim the gospel how can I accurately reflect Jesus at a time when others are fearful how can I exude your peace and purpose and draw others to Christ that's right that's right along those same lines let's bring it home to Bellevue obviously a lot of the questions that came in want to know when when will Bellevue reopen when will we corporately worship together again I know you don't have that answer right here on the spot but kind of walk through how we're thinking through that how you're thinking through that we believe that all of us are better than any of us and so we're putting together a committee as you well know this week that's going to be comprised and made up of some of our main staff all of our staff are great so but we can't put everybody on staff on there and we're going to some great lay leaders on it you including medical doctors and we are going to pray and we're not going to just talk to one another we're going to talk to the Lord I spend a lot of time in prayer and we're also going to just seek the face of God and then look at the look at the studies and all that we don't want to be making just raw decisions and we believe that we'll do it by two-week increments you know things are changing and so I don't want to make any detailed comment but I could see us possibly coming back within a month and month month and a half two months right in there where we could start gradually coming back I do think it's going to be a great you know we've all right I've already talked to you about it but we I think it's gonna be a gradual comeback you know is easier to shut it down than it is to start it up and so we're going to think about things like the nursery when we come back we won't be able probably to do a full nursery I don't know that but I mean that's kind of what we're anticipating I'm sure I'm making a lot of moms and dads out there uncomfortable but also we're gonna have to practice some sort of distancing where you might not it might be every other row and as we talked about just the other day in our staff meeting then we're not gonna be able to sell everybody just get out in the aisle and just be right up next to each other you know so you know what we're gonna have to do probably probably now is kind of file in and file out and we may have to go to one service on Saturday night one service on Sunday morning one service on Sunday night have the same sermon each time so that we can at least wipe down the doors and stuff between the people coming because if you come in and sit in a chair with something you could be asymptomatic and have this stuff mm-hm and so that means you don't have any symptoms and you can have it so if somebody sit in your chair the hour before you and it's not wiped down then you know my soul you could have you could catch it so we're just there's just a lot of things but we will get back together we are gonna make it I can't tell you and I keep looking at you because you know as much as I do about how well the people have responded our giving is going great and we're we're there's a lot of people meeting online and everything but just pray for us there'll be 21 people 25 counting the four staff members the executive staff and we're gonna have 25 people and there'll be godly people that are also adept in these areas that we need to know about and I think we'll make the right decision I think that all of us is better than any of us there's not something I'm gonna make on my own I'm not gonna I'm going to defer when there needs to be deference there and I think we'll make the right decision that's right amen amen thank you I that's right well let's turn the corner again we had a lot of people that wrote in that are just walking the journey right now of maybe not a believer yet or they're a new believer so Jamie once you read one of these here and kind of go from there yeah so this is one specific question that we got in I am new to the belief of God I'm 26 I felt like I believed in God for years but never knew how to go about it I'm not sure what steps to take to become baptized and to move forward with my beliefs in the Lord so what would you say to this person I would say that you know there are a lot of ways that claim to be to God but Jesus said the night before he died in John 14:6 I am the way a definite article is the word thee not a but thee I am the way and then he says I am the truth I am the life and then if you don't understand he speaks in Hebrew parallelism he was he was a Hebrew he was Jewish no one comes to the Father unless they come through me now a three-year-old can figure that out the only way to God is through Jesus Christ so when they say I'm just now believing in God they may be insulating from theism or atheism to theism but that's not enough you've got to go to Jesus and come to him and say okay Jesus I believe that you are the son of God and I believe that you are the only Savior I believe that there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved acts 4:12 I believe you are the only mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus first Timothy 2:5 and I believe that I need to repent Bible says in acts 3:19 that the first thing we have to do if we want to know the Lord is to repent and what is repentance you can't beat a good u-turn sign that's repentance it's an about-face if you're in the military it is a 180 where you turn your back on your former life of selfishness and sin and turn your face and your heart toward Jesus Christ it's turning away from the past and giving that past to the Lord and I want to say this to you I don't care what you've done who you are how big and bad you were and how bad it was I'm not you know making light of that whatever you've done is not bigger than the grace of God it is not bigger than the blood of Jesus it is not bigger then go your sin is not bigger than God's forgiveness and grace and I would just say to you right now if you will repent and that doesn't mean you promised God you'll never sin again don't even go there all right just say you're sorry and don't just say you're sorry be sorry for what you've done be broken over your sin that's why Jesus died was for your sin and just say Lord I repent I turn from my sin because if you don't repent Jesus said twice now these people have heard me say this so many times Jesus said twice in Luke 13 if you don't repent you're gonna perish so you've got to repent you've got to turn and he won't force you to turn he will help you turn but he won't make you turn you've got to repent then you've got to believe not just in God but in Jesus and in specifically the heart of the gospel is the death and the resurrection of Jesus you've got to believe that Jesus the Son of God who knew no sin bore your sin in his body on the cross so that you could become the righteousness of God to him what does that mean it means that Jesus Christ was on that cross not as a martyr but as a sacrifice and atoning sacrifice a substitutionary atonement he was the Lamb of God who died for your sins he had no sin but he bore your sin in his body all of us like sheep had gone astray each of us has turned to his own way but God laid upon Jesus the iniquity of us all and he drank that bitter cup he paid that price to tell us die the little band on my arm he shouted out paid-in-full it is finished paid in full her david platt won't say one time he took the chalice of the wrath of God drank it to the dregs turned it over and said it is finished he has paid your sin debt you don't have to pay your sin debt he's already paid your sin debt that's the good news the gospel you have to believe that and then you have to believe that they put him in a grave and three days later he walked out with the keys to death in his hand he went into the grave to clean it up you've got to believe that Jesus died for your sins that's a miracle and you've got to believe in the greatest miracle in the whole Bible that Jesus walked out of that grave and rose from the dead we serve a living God with a living son who died for our sins and came back to life and now you have to do one more thing you have to repent you have to believe and you have to receive there was a day when Don and I received each other last week the 23rd we always celebrate on April that's when I gave her the ring well that's great that's wonderful but it wasn't near as wonderful as June the 14th 1980 when we said our vows to one another you've got to say your vows to the Lord you've his vow to you is whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved now you're a whosoever alright so you've got to call upon the name of the Lord and you've got to repent and you've got to believe and you've got to receive him John 1:12 as many as receive him the vehm he gives the right to become children of God even to those who believe in his name so that's how you become a Christian it's not just believing that there's a God out there that's a great start you have to go from atheism to theism but I want to say this to you you've got to repent you've got to believe in Jesus in a saving way and you've got to receive him as your Lord and Savior calling up on the name of the Lord praying and inviting him to come in your life he's knocking on the door revelation 3:20 behold I stand at the door and knock if anyone hears my voice and opens the door he won't push it open you got to open it opens door I will come in and will what fellowship sup have a dinner with that's the Jewish way of getting together and let's let's let's be one fellowship and I will fellowship with him and he with me if you'd like to do that even right now could I just lead them in a word of Prayer absolutely if you'd like to pray to receive Christ right now you can do that alright and I'm gonna just ask Donna to lead you in that sinner's prayer to receive Christ right now okay just listen to what she says and then say it to the Lord God's looking at your heart not just listening to your words so you don't have to say exactly what I'm saying but I will guide you dear Heavenly Father I admit that I'm a sinner but I have broken your laws and I choose to repent right now to turn from my sin and turn to you I ask you to forgive me and I believe that Jesus Christ died and rose from the dead and I confess him now as my Lord and Savior I ask you to save me and I ask you to come into my life to fill me with your Holy Spirit and help me to live for you for the rest of my days on earth thank you for saving me thank you for writing my name in the Lamb's Book of Life and thank you that I will be with you forever in Jesus name Amen if you prayed that with Donna I hope you'll call the church and let us be able to share with you talk with you we don't I don't know we've got we do have that phone tonight there's some numbers there on the church if you made a decision for Christ call and someone will get back with you and give you some materials that will help you get started in the Christian life we just wanted to end our time tonight by asking brother Steven miss Donna one final question so on behalf of all of us to you we would love to know at how we as a church body can be praying for you individually thank you for that Jamie and Jason thank you both for this time tonight it's been very sweet and church family if you would just pray for me especially just to hear from the Lord to be sensitive to his voice to be about his business my greatest desire is to reach the end of my life and to be able to say as Christ did I completed God's plan I fulfilled the purpose that God had for my life so Steve and I both are really seeking to listen to the Lord I'm hearing willing to hear from him we're currently writing our curriculum for the fall so prayers for that as well would be wonderful and we just appreciate you we appreciate your faithfulness we appreciate your willingness to stay connected and we look forward to when we're all back together again I would just ask you to continue to pray for my sermon preparation I'm really really enjoying the book of Revelation and if you would just pray for me that I would make good use of my time I was reading today I didn't tell you this how there was just a simple verse that talked about he spent the day and I thought about spent the day that we have an opportunity to buy more to get more money but not more days and that money is much more important much more valuable I would say and I on a time rather excuse me days are much more valuable than money you can get more money but you can't get more time spend your time very carefully I just saw that in the scripture and I thought wow Lord I need to be really diligent about the way I spend my time you can waste a lot of time on and at the end the day not even know what you did so I think that now that we're a little bit less distracted least a lot of us are I think it would be a great time to not spend as much time watching television or other thing I'm not saying you're sitting if you're watching but read a book exercise your brain go for a walk exercise your body talk to each other we have had more great fellowship talking together at meals sitting down at the table at home instead of eating something quick out or something like that so there's been some good things to it you know we miss seeing you guys so pray for us the thing I would ask you to pray for me for is just be use of my time and that I won't wait 300 pounds on this please pray I have one solution for you Brussels sprouts there's got to be a better one I only fix Brussels sprouts I'm gonna be able to brussel sprouts gosh well well pastor miss Donna we were going to Emily no that's right we we thank you guys and what we want to do is we doing a pray for y'all now and I want to encourage you at home I know for some of you this will be a unique thing but pastor asked us to do this a lot I'm gonna ask you just to reach out towards your screen which is just really just showing the Lord that we mean business and I want us to pray for pastor and miss Donna right now where we gonna ask them to do one thing absolutely just I want to show you something that the Lord has been telling me to do I'm gonna stand up cameraman okay I want you to go to your backyard and I want you to take some Scripture cards however you do it my scripture cards are somewhere right here and this may sound a little bit different but take a prayer that you'd like to pray over our nation and just slowly turn I'll show you how to do it father I pray in the name of Jesus for the United States of America just do a 360 now this is a difference non 180 all right I pray for the United States of America they Lord no evil will befall us no plague will come near our dwelling but that you will give your angels charge concerning us to guard us in all of our ways now what I just did was a 360 and in my mind I'm praying over the whole nation you know Memphis is almost right in the middle of the nation did you know why there are so many truck companies here is because it's a great place to drive from it's right in the middle okay and so I want to encourage you this may sound a little silly may you may feel like you know do it in the dark if you don't if you're afraid somebody saying what's that nut doing out there don't worry about it just pray over our nation if you want to reach your hand out just pray over our nation I do that and just pray Lord I pray in the name of Jesus that no weapon formed against us will prosper that every tongue that accuses us in judgment we will condemn this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord our vindication is from you say at the Lord you give it a try and see what the Lord does just in your heart pray over our nation all right and the nations that's right and I'll even add to that and tell you that we our vision at our church is to be a catalyst for spiritual awakening in Memphis and beyond and as we were talking through this years and years ago we made this point that Memphis is a natural distribution center for the United States because of where we're located and because of the companies we have here that distribute things all over the world and we know that the most important thing that we can distribute is the gospel so just like what he is saying there as we're praying for our nation we're praying that the Lord would use our city that he would use our church that he would use us it starts in us as individuals so we're praying for that so I want us to pray for pastor and miss Donna right now and then we'll finish up let's all pray together Lord I thank you so much for the gains thank you for them thank you for how you brought them here and use them here for 15 years and you've used them in gospel ministry for many more years than that thank you for their families that they've come from thank you Lord for their devotion to you thank you for their relationship with one another God there there are not many things not anything that I can think of that they can't be put up as a good example to others of how to live their lives and I know it's not about them it's about you Lord so we thank you for that thank you for how you are using them thank you for pasture how use them is he preaches the message faithfully and preaches the word we never have to worry about wondering if we're gonna get the Bible when we're at Bellevue so thank you for that we thank you from miss Donna and what an incredible help maid and servant and leader that she is thank you for her and these things that they have said tonight I pray that we would be diligent as a congregation as a family of believers that we would be diligent to pray for them and their time with the Lord that Lord as they desire a fresh wind and a fresh fire from you Lord that you would give them that and as they honor you father that you would honor them in the way that they that they live Lord thank you for them we pray for them and the decisions that they have to make when it comes to family and friendships and the church we pray for that Lord up I pray you give pastor wisdom as he leads us well here lord I pray that his time with you would be fruitful and Lord that he would continue just to give him a fire for your word and for revival Lord we pray for that just as he is demonstrated and shared we do pray for revival Lord we pray that you would do a great work in this city and in this state and this nation and across the world Lord and let it begin here not for our glory but for yours we pray for that Lord thank you again for this time together that we've had tonight just to hear from pastor and miss Donna we pray blessings over them we pray that the peace of God that passes all understanding with garden there both of their minds and their hearts both now in the days to come forevermore Lord we love you and we thank you in your name we pray amen amen

Channel: Bellevue Baptist Church

Views: 2,286

Rating: 4.9000001 out of 5

Keywords:

Id: 0y3XUWYiEfQ

Length: 60min 33sec (3633 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 28 2020