We’ll be studying 1 John using Tim Keller’s guide this fall. The study will begin on Monday, Sept. 20 and meet every other week for seven sessions at the Smith’s home (306 Kettlebridge Dr., Cary). Contact: Cathy Harvey (cathy.harvey89@gmail.com)
Many Thanks for Your Prayers
Posted by Pastor Warren on September 7, 2010 at 11:50 am
Dear Ambassador Family,
Words will not suffice to say how much I and my family appreciated your prayers and thoughtful notes, cards and emails during the past week as we said goodbye to my mother. When I went down last Sunday, I did not expect to be gone a whole week, but the Lord’s timing and ways are not always ours. As a result, it was much needed time with my siblings and dad to reminisce together and to bring to a sad, but joyful end, the long journey of the past few years of Mom’s declining health. I don’t think we realize the impact someone has on our lives until we have to say goodbye to that person. My mother was a loving, faithful, compassionate, strong woman whose life was defined by her faith in Christ and her love for others. Her testimony and witness in life as well as in death is one of enduring faith, and I know that God’s opening my own eyes of faith to the gospel is in large part due to her faithful prayers for me.
This past week also impressed upon me once again the vital ministry of the body of Christ to one another. Christ’s love and care for me and my family in a time of need have been evident in so many ways through you, His people. Specifically I want to thank the elders for encouraging me to go be with my family and for making a long, long trip to be with present with us at the funeral. I want to thank Dan Layman for stepping in on short notice and leading and preaching this past Sunday so that I could remain with family and particularly my dad for a couple of days. I want to thank many of you again for the calls, notes, facebook posts, emails, texts, food and flowers you sent to express your sympathy and let us know of your prayers. I truly felt them throughout the week. In particular, thank you for praying for me as I shared a testimony from Mom’s life and from the gospel to the hundreds of people who came to the funeral. It was perhaps the most difficult, but most special message I have preached, and God’s grace was amazingly sufficient in the process. Please continue to pray that many who were there that day will consider and find their hope in Christ alone.
This week was just another affirmation to me of the importance of family. I have been blessed with a wonderful family, not just in my wife, sons, parents and siblings, but in you my brothers and sisters in Christ. Your ministry to me, Cathy and the boys this past week is just a small example of the incredible love and grace of Christ that we are called to share with one another, and I pray that we will continue to share it with one another in both happy and hard times. Truthfully, even though it was good to be with my family in Beaufort, SC, it was difficult to be away from my family in Apex, NC. I’m thankful to be home again and look forward to continuing the journey of faith with each of you towards heaven, “where partings will be no more.”
Your faithful and thankful servant in the Lord,
Pastor Warren
Testimonies from the Mexico Team
Posted by Pastor Warren on June 22, 2010 at 2:42 pm
Our Mexico Mission team returned safely after a week of hard work and ministry in Mexico. This is the fourth year that Ambassador has taken a team to Rio Verde in the central state of San Luis Potisi, and we are seeing the fruit of relationships established and partnerships built with the people and churches of this area. This years team was by far the largest (23) and a wonderful mix of Ambassador adults and youth. God truly worked in and through them during their week together, and those of us who stayed behind and supported them financially and prayerfully can rejoice in the work of the gospel accomplished. If you want to get an idea of what happens on a short term trip like this both physically and spiritually, take time to read the daily blogs recorded by various members of the team, as well as the short testimonies and reflections of many of those who went. You can find them by clicking here: APC Mexico Mission Blog
News from Rio Verde
Posted by Pastor Warren on June 15, 2010 at 3:04 pm
The Ambassador Mexico Missions team (The Living Stones) are hard at work in Rio Verde this week. Check out their daily updates on the team blog here: APC Mexico Team Blog
Navigating by Compass in a GPS World
Posted by Pastor Warren on June 1, 2010 at 3:28 pm
“Turn left in .5 miles.” The soft, friendly voice of our Magellan GPS unit (whom we have fondly named Maggie) was preparing me for my next driving maneuver, but something in me said that this was not the right direction. I quickly pictured in my mind the map I had looked at earlier, checked the digital compass on my rear-view mirror, and knew I should be heading south instead of east. In what ended up being a split-second decision, I went with my instinct instead of following the instructions of my cyber-friend. She quickly “recalculated” the route in light of my insubordination, and in the end I wound up at my desired destination in a little more direct way than I would have following her original instructions.
We’re embarking this summer on a sermon series in the book of Proverbs, a book filled with practical instruction for navigating the pathways of life. However, it’s interesting to note that in this book, as well as in the rest of his word, God does not give us GPS-like directions for how to live. He does not lay out in detail the “shortest route” to a good marriage or the “quickest way” to raise godly children or the “easiest path” to being a good employer or employee. Rather, like a compass, God orients our hearts towards a spiritual “true north” or what Proverbs calls “wisdom.” When we seek and follow God’s wisdom in life, we won’t necessarily all take the same route, but we will be headed towards the same destination which Proverbs describes with words like “righteousness, justice, equity, joy, peace, integrity, humility, life, etc.” Some roads may be bumpier than others, and undoubtedly we’ll make some wrong turns along the way, but when we’re guided by true wisdom, we can be sure we’ll reach our final destination safely.
Ironically, in Proverbs, Wisdom is personified as the voice of a woman calling out for young men to walk in her way, to follow her path. But this is not a GPS-voice giving us detailed instructions to be blindly followed, rather this voice points us like a compass to the source of true wisdom: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One insight.” (Proverbs 9:10). Wisdom is found not in a set of rules or steps to follow, but in a relationship with the Lord. And that relationship is made personal through the knowledge of the Holy One, Jesus Christ, “who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption.” (1 Corinthians 1:30).
If you want practical help in navigating the winding paths of life, there are plenty of GPS-voices in the world to try to guide you in the way. Many of them, though well intentioned, will ultimately leave you stranded in the dark wilderness. Only when our ears are attuned and our hearts are oriented to true wisdom, given by God, found in the person of Jesus Christ, and laid out in his word, will we be able, in whatever circumstances we find ourselves, to stay on the path that ultimately leads to true and eternal life.
Why not check out the book of Proverbs with us this summer and hear what Wisdom has to say.
