A Good Weekend
By Rick Long | September 1, 2008
I love a good long holiday weekend. This Labor Day weekend included hanging out with friends and some real labor and some labor pains (and joy).
Sunday was good. I wasn’t sure what our crowd would be like since it’s a long holiday weekend, but we had a good crowd and new faces. We are now going on several weeks of new families joining the church each week. Our Starting Point class on Sept 13 should be full.
The renovation work at The Point continues; the first phase of drywall work is complete and painting has begun; the ceiling work will start this week. Table Groups start in two weeks and KidStyle worship starts this Sunday, so the new room will come just in time for lots of use.
And how ’bout them CATS! All the hype about L-ville’s Cantwell is just that- hype! I’m glad our defensive line came through for us because UK’s offense did not perform. My Quaterback analysis: Hartline looks really good. Cantwell…Cantpass. The game was topped off with a 72 yard touchdown run by a 305 lb Kentucky defensive lineman. The House Of Blue is rockin tonight.
Dwayne and Lori Powell FINALLY had their baby on Sunday night. Paula and I were able to be there when the beautiful Helen arrived in rather urgent fashion. It was a real joy to be with this sweet family for such a special time. I don’t always get to be present at these kind of things, so I really enjoy it when I can.
Today, several guys from the church installed a couple of new signs at the entrance to our property. Thanks to my friend Bill Jones we have a good photo that captured some of the work.
Union rules and OSHA inspections kept the work slow, but we had fun anyway. 
We spent Monday afternoon at Fallen Springs Arts and Aquatic Center with Andy, Luanne and their kids celebrating Kenedi’s birthday with family and friends. Fallen Springs is a really nice aqautic center with TONS of fun activities for kids (and adults too). Pictures of Andy on one of the water slides are coming soon…
And now, the week ahead is already packed. Our Epic Faith series starts Sunday and I am still struggling with the sermon direction. There are new pages on the TPCC website detailing “Epic Faith” and I am asking our leadership to participate in a time of prayer and fasting as we launch into this crucial time in our church life.
September is going to be INSANE! I praise God that he allows me to pastor such a terrific church- there’s no other place I’d rather be and there’s no people like our people at The Point! Here we go!
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Mohler on Palin
By Rick Long | August 30, 2008
Months before she was picked to be the running mate of John McCain, Alaska Governor Sara Palin was highlighted on Al Mohler’s radio show. Regardless of your politics this is a very compelling story.
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Another Step In The Journey of Epic Faith
By Rick Long | August 29, 2008
I am way stoked about launching our “Journey of Epic Faith” at The Point. This is our way of promoting the new ministry developments this fall, growing our financial giving through teaching Scripture and taking some major next steps as God grows this church.
The church website has more details about the vision that is driving this Epic Faith Journey. As part of the project, I will be teaching a series of sermons and sending weekly email prayer guides. I am also asking our leadership, and anyone else who God leads, to join in a time of prayer and fasting. I will be posting the prayer and fasting guides on the website as well.
Our Lead Team and Elders recently went on an overnight retreat. We spent time in planning, prayer and dreaming about where God is taking us and what He is doing. I can honestly say that our leaders are men and women who do not lead from personal preference but from Godly vision. God has protected us from ourselves and our selfish ways. We are SO BLESSED with leaders who ‘get’ the vision and who are committed to BEING the church that God has called us to be.
God has protected this church and grown us at the same time. I am humbled to realize how God has supplied us with vision and provision- all for His glory! This journey of Epic Faith is merely a continuation of our journey that began in January of 2006 as a small group of people, clearly led by God, planted a church on the Westside of Frankfort. We are a blessed people who are no longer a small group but a growing body of Christi-followers who are committed to the advancement of the Gospel in our selves, families, church and community.
Last Sunday we heard the POWERFUL Gospel story of Heath, a young man whose life has been turned upside down by the Gospel of Jesus. His story is one of transformation, not because of our programs, music or service- but by the powerful work of the Holy Spirit.
This Sunday I will be teaching from Luke 9:37-43. Jesus and his disciples come down from the mountain after the transfiguration of Christ. They are met by a desperate dad whose son is tormented by demons. He says that the other disciples could not deliver his son. Jesus delivers the boy and sets him free. Later that night the disciples ask why they couldn’t set the boy free. Jesus tells them that they lacked faith, prayer and fasting- thus making them powerless. What a tremendous lesson for us- we must deepen our faith by praying and fasting, claiming our dependence upon His power- not our programs.
It’s a blast to be on the journey together with the AWESOME people at The Point! I can’t wait to see where God is taking us!
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Above His Pay Grade
By Rick Long | August 19, 2008
“When Does Human Life Begin?”
Dr. Hymie Gordon (Mayo Clinic): “By all criteria of modern molecular biology, life is present from the moment of conception.”
Dr. Micheline Matthews-Roth (Harvard University Medical School): “It is scientifically correct to say that an individual human life begins at conception.”
Dr. Alfred Bongioanni (University of Pennsylvania): “I have learned from my earliest medical education that human life begins at the time of conception.”
Dr. Jerome LeJeune, “the Father of Modern Genetics” (University of Descartes, Paris): “To accept the fact that after fertilization has taken place a new human has come into being is no longer a matter of taste or opinion . . . it is plain experimental evidence.”
Rick Warren: At what point does a baby get human rights in your view?
Sen. Barack Obama: “Well, I think that whether you are looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity, you know, is above my pay grade.”
ht: Justin Taylor and First Things
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Starved For Glory
By Rick Long | August 15, 2008
I am putting the final touches on my sermon for this week. We are continuing the (3 year journey through Luke’s Gospel) “No Ordinary Man” series and this week we are in Luke 9:28-36, the transfiguartion of Christ. I have struggled with this text for weeks now. In my research I ran across this from John Piper…
“We are all starved for the glory of God, not self. No one goes to the Grand Canyon to increase self-esteem. Why do we go? Because there is greater healing for our soul in beholding splendor than there is in beholding self… The point is this: We were made to know and treasure the glory of God above all things; and when we trade that treasure for images, everything is disordered. The sun of God’s glory was made to shine at the center of the solar system of our soul. And when it does, all the planets of our life are held in their proper orbit. But when the sun is displaced, everything flies apart. The healing of the soul begins by restoring the glory of God to its flaming, all-attractive place at the center.”
The transfiguration, life, worship…everything…is all about God’s glory! The transfiguration is all about transformation from one degree of something to a greater degree. To see the transfiguration is to see the glory of God revealed more intensely in Jesus. This is what our heart needs, to see Jesus’ glory. It desires to see God’s glory more fully and in Christ we can. When we come to see Jesus for who He really is, we come to see God’s glory more intensely. To see Jesus’ glory is to be transformed ourselves.
2 Corinthians 3:16-18: “But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
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Politics part 2
By Rick Long | August 12, 2008
My friend Ed Stetzer has a very relevant post on his blog that relates to my previous post on politics and the evangelical Christian realm. It seems that Senator Obama would have liked to get his endorsement. Ed does a great job at stating why so many thinking Christians cannot stomach the idea of an Obama Whitehouse.
And Rick Warren, pastor of the mega Saddleback Church has both Obama and McCain making a JOINT appearance at his church. Read about it here.
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Lloyd-Jones On Politics
By Rick Long | August 11, 2008
When it comes to the church, political matters should not identify or divide a church, Christians can and do disagree on many political matters. Our church is located in the Capital City of Kentucky which brings with it lots of interactions with local, state and even national politics. Our church is not Democrat or Republican. We are people who love and stand for truth, righteousness and justice.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ sermon on Philippians 4:13 addresses the role of the Christian church in political matters. Lloyd-Jones was one of England’s most influential pastors. I found this to be relevant and even helpful. This does not mean that we are to abandon our command to be salt and light, rather I read it to say that we need to understand that politics, laws and government must be put into the proper perspective.
There are those who feel that at a time like this, it is the business of the Christian preacher and the Christian Church constantly to be making comments on the general situation. There are many people who say: ‘Are you dealing only with matters of personal experience while the world is as it is? Is it not remote from life? Have you not read your newspaper or even heard the report on the wireless? Don’t you see the whole state of the world? Why don’t you make some pronouncement on the world situation or on the state of the nations!’
My simple answer to such talk is this: What I, or a number of preachers, or the entire Christian Church, may say about the whole situation will probably not affect it at all. The Church has been talking about politics and the economic situation for many years but with no noticeable effect. That is not the business of Christian preaching. The business of Christian preaching is to put this to the people: In this uncertain world, where we have already experienced two world wars within a quarter of a century, and where we may have to face yet another and things that are even worse, here is the questions — How are you going to face it all, how can you meet it all? For me to give my views on international politics will not help anybody; but thank God there is something I can do. I can tell you of something, I can tell you of a way which, if you but practice and follow it, will enable you, with the Apostle Paul to say: ‘I am strong, I am able for anything that may happen to me , whether it be peace or war, whether it be freedom or slavery, whether it be the kind of life we have known for so long or whether it be entirely difference, I am ready for it.’ It does not mean, I must repeat, a passive, acquiescence in that which is wrong. Not at all — but it does mean that whatever may come, you are ready for it.
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life update
By Rick Long | August 9, 2008
I apologize for the lack of a post here recently. I am grateful for the few of you that noticed and gave me a hard time about it. 
I went to the surgeon again this week. He believes the nerve damage is temporary and that the leg should be back to normal in a few weeks. He says the surgery was more extensive that he had planned (really?) and that the recovery might be longer than what he first indicated. Anyway, it’s getting better and I am blessed. The people of The Point have been very good to me during this time.
Linley Beth starts Kindergarten this week at The Frankfort Christian Academy. It seems a bit surreal that she will be going to school every day/all day. The leap from preschool to kindergarten seems huge. She’s ready but I’m not.
Things at The Point are really gearing up. The machine is beginning to roar! There is growing momentum and it is clear that our people are really excited about what’s coming. September is going to be HUGE for us! We will begin Table Groups (our expression of sunday school), Kidstyle worship (during worship), Bible Blitz (mid-week kids) and Jason & Marri Hampton arrive to lead our youth ministry. We’ll also begin renovations in most areas of our facility. All of this will be part of our Journey of Epic Faith which will include sermons, Bible studies, prayer & fasting, and vision casting.
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Simple Life
By Rick Long | July 23, 2008
This Sunday I am preaching from Luke 9, where I believe Jesus gives us clear instruction to keep things simple in ministry and even in life. I ran across this article and I found it quite convicting and very inspiring. I recommend that families seriously consider the implications here and act accordingly.
John Mark Reynolds shares some tips that his family is doing to have moderation in their media consumption:
First, no “solitary media” on school days. If we watch a movie Monday through Friday, we are trying to make sure it is a family experience. . . .
Second, no earbuds with people (planes are an exception). When we are with people (especially folks we love), then we should talk with them. . . .
Third, with rare exceptions email needs to be checked twice a day and not more often. My phone should stay off or not be answered when in meetings with other people. . . .
Fourth, my Google reader is fine for the “news reading” time in the morning, but does not need to be checked again for the day. Fifth, my extended reading free time (longer articles or books) should equal my “quick read” or video time. . . .
ht: Justin Taylor
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ESV SB and A29
By Rick Long | July 21, 2008
The ESV Study Bible is due for release soon and will be shipped in October.
For a limited time, you can pre-order your ESV study Bible with a special website that will give you the best discount possible (35% off) and Crossway will donate 5% back to the Acts 29 Network for ESVSB’s bought through the weblink below.
Hands down, this will be the single best study Bible available in an accurate, word-for-word translation. But the offer is only good through July 31, 2008.
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