God's Kind Providence

Intro

Good morning! I am glad that you have joined me for this morning’s Wednesday in the Word. This week will be a little different as I am going to share a short devotion with you and give an update on The Church at River Mills.

Prayer time and Pray.

As The Church at River Mills launched on Sept. 25, I have been constantly reminded of God’s kind providence. As I stepped into the role of campus pastor back in May, I knew that the property for The Church at River Mills would need updating and renovating. I knew that exterior and interior changes needed to be made. Likewise, I knew that a fresh start needed to take place.

With all of that, there were moments of feeling overwhelmed and feeling like it would never take place. However, God’s kind providence ensured that The Church at River Mills would take place and come into existence.

Two verses have constantly been on my mind throughout this process.

First, Romans 8:28

Romans 8:28 ESV

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

This is a verse that many of you may know. That is a good thing. However, this is also a verse that has often been misinterpreted and taken out of context.

Paul writes to the Roman believers explaining for them a concise theology. As he writes Romans 8:28, he is reminding his readers that God is the One that is in control of all things. In that, for those that are called according to His purposes, meaning for those that are Christians, God works all things together for their good. This does not mean that God gives us what we want. It means that in any and every situation, God is working that situation for your good.

This could be tough situations like the lose of a loved one. Or, it could be great situations like the birth of a new child. Even the minor things in our life such as finding a parking spot at the front of Publix. Or, the rain coming down as soon as you walk outside. Whatever the case, large or small God is working it for your good.

As that verse was brought to my mind, I thought about The Church at River Mills. God blessed me with an awesome wife and plant team that have put in long hours of work dropping ceiling tiles, cutting down trees, moving chairs, painting, and listening to me explain declarations of faith and processes. God was kind to providentially equip us for the task of planting a church in the Owens/West Limestone area.

The second verse that God brought to my memory is 2 Timothy 4:5

2 Timothy 4:5 ESV

5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

This verse was more for me specifically. As God was working all things together for my good and The Church’s good, I had a call to faithfulness.

In our westernized culture, we have a skewed view of success. We think that the bigger the building or the bigger the crowd that better the success. Now, I understand that numbers are important and provide good metrics.

That being said, God has been teaching me that success is faithfulness to Him. We can have the largest church in the area and still be an abysmal failure. Success is our obedience and faithfulness to Christ Jesus and His Word.

Paul tells Timothy to always be sober-minded. In essence, always keep your mind on the goal. Always be sure to be focused upon the right things. Paul then encourages Timothy to endure suffering. While I have not suffered during my time as campus pastor, I am certain that time will come. However, endurance is the demand.

Then Paul throws in this interesting phrase. “Do the work of an evangelist.” Paul call for Timothy to do the work of preaching the Word and reaching lost souls. This is the commission for me and for The Church at River Mills. We must have the Gospel of Jesus Christ on the forefront of our hearts and minds in order that we share Him with a lost and dying world.

Lastly, Paul says to Timothy, “Fulfill your ministry.” God has called The Church at River Mills to minister to the Owens/West Limestone area. In that call, we must fulfill that ministry. I must fulfill the ministry that God has called me to as campus pastor.

Mark Dever stated in his interview to become pastor of Captiol Hill Baptist Church, “Preach. Pray. Love. Stay.” That is fulfilling ministry Preach the Word. Pray for others. Love the people. Stay there. That is the mission of The Church at River Mills.

What is your mission? What is the ministry that God has called you to fulfill? Will you respond with faithfulness?

Update for The Mill

Back in May we started the process of planting The Church at River Mills on Elk River Mills Road. We walked the building and visualized steps for updating and renovating. Likewise, I prayed asking God what the vision for the Mill must be.

Here is a photo of the Mill upon my arrival as campus pastor. We, the plant team, looked at the interior of the facility and mapped out the course we would go with repairs and renovations.

The primary task regarding buildings that we saw as a need was updating the worship center. So, we started there by gutting the worship center. Here are a few pictures.

Thanks to the help of Mark and Roslyn Pressnell we were able to get the help and wisdom needed to renovation. This is the current state of our worship center.

We launched on Sunday, Sept. 25th. We had an awesome opening day. We prayed, preached, and sang all in worship to Jesus Christ. We started our commitment to preaching verse-by-verse through books of the Bible with our sermon series in Matthew. We had phenomenal worship music and a sweet spirit in the room. Our attendance for our opening Sunday was 88.

We have met every Sunday and will continue to do so as long as the Lord wills.

While our worship center is updated, we still have work to do and are working on the remainder of our building specifically to implement a children’s ministry and discipleship room updating.

The Church at River Mills is thankful for the support of First Baptist Athens and the Alabama State Board of Missions.

We are now rolling out our overarching mission statement as:

For Christ’s Glory

This will be our guiding principle as a church. We exist for the glory of Jesus Christ. Every decision we make and step we take must be for the glory of Jesus Christ.

Again, we are overjoyed at God’s kind providence and have been amazed at how He is working at The Church at River Mills.

Thank you for tuning in today. Let’s pray as we close.