The Pastor’s Blog  -  June 20, 2009

I’ve been asked by many where my family and I come from, why I’m here, and what do I plan to do?  Of course the latter is first in my life: I plan to preach the Gospel of my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.  I hope this Blog will help in doing this, but it will never replace the preaching of the Word.

The other two questions are simple: I am from everywhere, really.  As an Army Brat, we claim the last place our parents were stationed or retired, so South Carolina would be it.

The sad reality of my travels and disposable youth is that when we settled down, I grew up in an area saturated with churches, but at no point did one reach out to me with the Gospel.  It took 30+ years to hear the true Gospel preached, even in the Buckle of the Bible Belt.  So that leads to the “Why am I here?”  God has led me here.  What do I plan to do?  I plan to simply carry out the Great Commission and shepherd the flock He has given me, by disciplining both new and seasoned Christians in their walk with God.

After all, with the plethora of churches we have here today, my burden is still carried and is still the same: is the True Gospelbeing preached?  God’s Grace and Message is not wrapped up in a program, praise team, uplifting sermonette, or some other church sanctioned event, but it is delivered by the foolishness of preaching.  Psalm 8 speaks of the love of God given to man, unworthy man, and how He wants us to be his children.  He gave us the power to be Sons of God, but yet our Churches are saturated with ANTI-confrontational evangelism.

The Christian life is impressive, the walk is exemplary, and the every day testimony does cause other’s to notice Christ’s influence; but the reaching out to the lost, to the one who has never heard the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, who has never beheld the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, who has not heard of that the Kingdom of God is at hand, it has disappeared for that one soul… that one that was me.

In the middle of the bible belt, amongst churches built on the philosophies and best sellers of Malphurs, Warren, Stetzer, Sylvia, Reid, et. al., not once did I really care about why my neighbor was wholesome and good; I didn’t care if he was a Christian or not; I didn’t even want to know.  It wasn’t until I was faced with the questions of an evangelical preacher and God’s Word did I want to know. 

ARE YOU GOING TO HEAVEN WHEN YOU DIE?

Profound words.  Clear and to the point.  It was a simple message.  And I got it.

I wanted to be born again.  I wanted eternal security.  I wanted to serve a higher calling.

No program offered me that.  No required reading or title in seminary came close to that.  No systematic theology text could reveal it to me.  It was simply the preaching of the Word of God, and His Holy Spirit that drew me to Him.  It was then that I asked God to forgive me of my sins; it was then I repented and turned away form them; it was then that I was born a new creature in Christ.

Where did I come from, why am I here, and what am I going to do?  Three questions I will be asked many times before the year 2009 is over.

But before your life is over, I want to ask you, “Are you going to Heaven when you die?”  If you are unsure, Calvary Baptist Church can help you find out how, through the preaching of the word of God.

God is Good,

Pastor Cushman