CaseyJones1979

I just want to give praise to the Lord for being able to fill pulpits. I was relieved of my duty of interim pastor at Five Points Baptist Church in Sylacauga after 5 months of service when they called a pastor in February. Since then I have preached once in March, have been booked for all of April and now as of today I am booked for all of May and the first Sunday in June. When I first started preaching I knew that if I had a message to preach that God would put me in a place to serve him. Awhile back I started preaching through 2 Timothy during some supply work and as of last week I picked back up in chapter 2. I finished chapter 2 today and will do 3 on Wednesday evening. Here are the places that I have preached since then, March 6, Ridgeview Baptist Church in Talladega April 3, Ridgeview Baptist in Talladega April 10, Central Baptist Church in Talladega April 17, FBC Tallasahtchie April 24, Ridegview Baptist May 1, Ridgeview Baptist May 8-29, FBC Tallasahtchie Praise the Lord for the work He is doing among His people through His Word.

I will try to update the blog site more often.

I know that it has been a couple of months since I have blogged. Just recently at the church I pastor we had an anniversary. It marked 55 years of existence and ministry as a congregation. I have been at this wonderful church for 7 months. When I came here I left Texas with some controversy. Controversy is not always fun but sometimes it is needed. It is needed for all those involved. It can help individuals and churches regroup and hopefully rediscover their God-given mission.

I write this blog thinking about the birth of Jesus and the upcoming New Year. There are two great things about these events. One is that the birth of Jesus was the event that marked human history. It was an important event because God came to earth in the form of a man. Jesus was not just a man, but he was also God in the flesh or in other words he was the God Man. What a great privilege as a preacher of the gospel to be able to tell people about this wonderful Savior who came to bear the sins of the world and to be the God who dwells among us!

The second event is the New Year. It is a good time of year because it is the season for new beginnings. It is a great time to start fresh. It is hard to believe it is 2009 already. I will be 30 years old in about 3 weeks. I hope and pray that with the coming of the new year that myself and the people I pastor will have a fresh and new encounter with God. I pray that we would be drawn to Jesus Christ and become more like him in every way. If we are going to be a congregation that honors Him we must be like him. I hope you and yours have a great 2009!

For God's glory and his fame!

I just recently returned from the Desiring God National Conference in Minneapolis, MN. This was actually one of the best conferences that I have ever been to. I know this is a lot because I have been to several conferences over the years. The theme of the conference was "The Power of Words and the Wonder of God." As soon as I saw the title through the Desiring God information I received, it struck my attention. I figured since I am a preacher of the gospel that this kind of conference would be good for the soul. Sinclair Ferguson begain the conference with a sermon from James 3:1-12. He preached his sermon dealing with the text and then from the perspective of the whole book and then from the context of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. In the morning session Bob Kauflin spoke on the subject of "What happens when we sing." The most challenging thing from his discussion was when he said, "It does not matter your style, only that you have a song to sing!" What is our song? In pastoring a church with predominately elderly folks, I wander sometimes do we really know what we are singing? Do we really know what this gospel is that we are proclaiming? I trust we do. Next Mark Driscoll talked on, "Christ controversy, and the cutting edge." He had four points, 1. Feed the sheep, 2. Rebuke the Swine, 3. Shoot the wolves, 4. Bark at the dogs, 5. Pray for the Shepards. This was a very challenging message because as a preacher I sometimes wonder how far I should go or can go. The last evening session was Paul Tripp. His basic message was "I am my greatest communication problem!" How true this is, that we as fallen creatures have this problem in our hearts that only the gospel can redeem. Finally, during the morning session, John Piper talked on is there any eloquence in christianity? He basically said yes, as long as it points someone to Christ and not to us. Preaching from 1 Cor 1:17 and 2:1 he gave several benefits to using eloquence in speaking the gospel.
Perhaps the best thing about the conference is the same thing I find everytime I go to a Desiring God event. It is the hospitality of the staff. These are some of the kindest and most servant hearted people you will meet. When they say that they are there to serve you, they mean it! I look forward to the Desiring God pastors conference in February with Mark Dever, Matt Chandler, Michael Oh, and John Piper. If you are a pastor reading this and you can by any means attend the conference, please pray about going. No matter your theological positions you will be greatly blessed by such a wonderful time in the Lord.

For His Kingdom,
Casey

I trust you are all doing well in the Lord this evening. I cannot believe I have already been at Northside Baptist Church in Talladega for a month. Last week I was talking to a friend about one of my goals at this church. One of my immediate goals is to get to know the folks here and see where they are spiritually. As I told him this goal he told me to go and memorize Proverbs 15:1-2, here is what it says, "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise commends knowledge but the mouth of fools pour out folly." I hate to admit this, but this evening is the first time I looked at the verse after my friend's suggestion. But as I looked at and just read the verse I was convicted. I was convicted again that as a believer the words of our mouth have the power to heal or the power to kill. They have the power to build up or to destroy. They have the power to bring about life or to bring about death." The question is what do we do with our words. Our we turning away wrath or stirring up anger? I don't know about you, but this breaks my heart. It does to think that sometimes without thinking I may be breaking somebody down. Especially as a pastor leading the flock of God. I am greatful that by God's grace I am not supposed to be perfect. But I do have an example. The example is Jesus and the way he treated the flock of God.

As I am reading this verse I am also reminded of an upcoming conference I will attend later this year. In September I will fly to Minneapolis, MN. The conference is entitled "The power of words and the wonder of God." It is the Desiring God Ministries National Conference. It will have people like John Piper, Sinclair Ferguson, Mark Driscoll, Paul Tripp, and Bob Kauflin. Would you pray for me as I prepare for this conference and learn how I can more effectively build up God's people and most importantly exalt the name of Jesus Christ with my mouth.

I hope you are doing well in the Lord this evening. As most of you know who know me at all know what I do and what I am about. As a Southern Baptist Pastor I attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary from 2003-2006. During that time I made some good friends, I also saw some who for whatever reason or another stop being my friend. However painful that was I am greatful to the Lord for the ones I made. I made some friends like Ben Cole, Madison Grace, Kyle Zuber, BJ Brooks, Sam Stevens, Brett Rogers and tons and tons more. It would be impossible to list everyone of the students God has blessed me with the privilege of meeting.
I have also made friends with some of the professors there. I appreciate so much guys like Drs. Michael Wilson, Calvin Pearson, and Steven Smith. God has used these men in different ways.

There have been times when I have made comments like, "If I had my seminary to do over I would have went to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY." After this evening and just being able to have real meaningful relationships with these professors who are pilgrims on the same journey I see otherwise. Just about an hour ago a professor I never had in class called me. I got to know Dr. David Allen, Dean of the School of Theology just through conversations in passing and going out to lunch, emailing from time to time and the occasional phone conversation. But this evening he called. We talked on the phone for about an hour. I began with telling him how I at random drove by the tattoo parlor in town to see if I could meet somebody. Of course he got a kick out of that. It was just a humbling experience that God would lead him to call and check in to see how I was doing at a new church.

Several years ago I had a pastor friend ask me if I had any life long friends. I have some now who have been my friends for more than ten years now. The Lord truly uses friends for times of encouragement. I just want to say thank you to Dr. Allen for calling and checking in on me. If you need to go to seminary I would highly recommend Southwestern for your education!

Last night I picked back up a book I started reading awhile back. Have you ever done that start a book only to put it down to move to something else and then discover what a foolish mistake you had made? I do that far too often. I am getting ready to preach in a couple of hours and again started reading a little this morning.

Anyways, this book I picked back up is called The Rare Jewel Of Christian Contentment. It is by a puritan preacher named Jeremiah Burroughs. I remember when I was in Seminary being challenged by one of my professors to just "be content." Contentment is a hard challenge, Burroughs however gives some good reasons why we can be content. I am just in chapter 3 right now page 67. Here is what I read in regard to "The Mystery of Contentment," "A gracious heart can indeed tell how to enjoy God as all in all to him. That is the happiness of heaven to have God to be all in all. The saints in heave do not have houses, and lands, and money, and meat and drink, and clothes; you will say, they do not need them--why not? It is because God is all in all to them immediately. Now while you live in this world, you may come to enjoy much of God, you may have much of heaven, while we live in this life we may come to enjoy much of the every life that is in heaven, what is that but the enjoyment of God to be all in all to us?"

What a challenge this is for us as believers. The real problem with much of Christianity is this, we have a tendancy to love our stuff more than God. We love our friendships, possessions, dreams, visions, etc... more than God! A contented heart should have a heart to love God above everything he or she has. I am challenged by this as I lead a group of people. The cheif end of everything I do as a pastor is not to get the folks to follow me per say, but to more importantly follow Jesus and to fall madly in love with him. The way we begin to do this is through having a contentment in God alone!