TwelveTwelve: The Leader Blog of North Wake Church

Photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash Read: 2 Timothy 3:14-17 Have you ever been to a sporting event? This could be any sporting event from kids at the soccer field to what I consider the ultimate sporting event: an SEC football game with a sold out stadium. Regardless of the size or the sport, at some point in the event someone (or lots of someones) almost always starts screaming, “Keep going! Go! Go! Go!!” Have you ever noticed that this does not happen when the player is standing still doing nothing? NO! This happens when the player is already doing something, and people want to encourage them to keep going, begging

Read: 2 Timothy 3:1-13 2 Timothy 3 is a difficult section of scripture to read. "But understand this," Paul writes, emphasizing that what he is about to say must be kept in mind. When difficult things must be known, we can thank God for bringing them to us. Father, help me to engage the ugliness of sin described in your scripture and be transformed. The Days of Fierce Trials Are Now Paul says, "In the last days," something will be happening. Those last days he discusses are now:  the time since the coming of Jesus. Jesus warns us not

Read: 2 Timothy 2:14-26 When Wise Pastors Choose to Say Less Article by David Mathis Pastors are teachers, and teachers can be talkers. Not all teachers, but many. Good teachers love to read and think; they amass knowledge and have opinions. Over time, they learn to formulate thoughts and choose words with greater ease — and it can become all too easy to just say something, when wisdom would be more guarded with words. The temptation for pastors to be talkers, and get sucked into endless triviality and frivolity, is no new trap. The apostle Paul saw it, and spoke to it repeatedly,

Photo by Elena Mozhvilo on Unsplash Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel, for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not bound!  Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.1 The saying is trustworthy, for: If we have died with him, we will also live with him;  if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us;  if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny

Photo by NEOM on Unsplash Have you ever heard the song “No Sleep ‘till” by the Beastie Boys? Some of us are old enough to remember it from its heyday. Others might remember it from the bridge scene in Secret Life of Pets, or others may know it from its recent use Guardians of the Galaxy 3 and The Super Mario Brothers Movie. Quick side note: I am not encouraging you to go listen to this song; not all of the lyrics are appropriate. But here is the thing: when this song comes on in a movie, it is always a war charge. Impossibilities lie ahead; determination drives the characters; a mission must be

Photo by Joel Muniz on Unsplash "Planting a Church" often involves trained pastors initiating relationships in an area lacking a healthy, established church. They begin by meeting with a core group of believers in a home for Bible study and prayer. Eventually, they secure a space for Sunday services with preaching and music, inviting others to join. This model, used by North Wake nearly 35 years ago, has brought people to know and worship God. But I want to pray and dream and hope for God to work in the traditional way I know and every other way! Jesus

In the first half of the 1990's I was a public high school history teacher and coach.  As a relatively new follower of Jesus myself, the classroom provided countless opportunities to invest into the lives of teenagers.  By God's grace, many of those young men eventually came to faith in Christ, some directly through my witness and others indirectly through those I was discipling.  After nearly six years of teaching, I sensed that God was calling me to cross-cultural missions.  So, after finishing my teaching contract, my wife and I moved to seminary to prepare for overseas ministry.  We rented  out

Photo by Kajetan Sumila on Unsplash   Read:  2 Tim 1:15-2:7 Paul’s concern in 2 Timothy 1 has been to prepare the Christians after him, represented by Timothy, to endure the suffering that often accompanies the faithful proclamation of the gospel. Without the Spirit of God, the assaults of men would indeed cause us to deny the Lord; but He has sent the Spirit to empower us to find honor in His truth (vv. 7, 14). In His unfathomable mercy, our Father chose to save us “before the ages began,” and we can trust this same mercy to vindicate us at

Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash This week, Jerry and I have entered into some hard things and hurts with some of those we love. We have sat with friends, talked with them on the phone, texted encouraging messages, shared podcasts, and drank coffee together. It seems that we keep turning around and finding that someone else we love and care for is hurting. And we want to fix it. We want to make it go away. We want to heal the pain, take away the disease, or enact justice and maybe a little revenge (more me than Jerry). But we can’t. We can’t protect them. We can’t stop

Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.  ~Ecclesiastes 12:13 In the story "The Prodigal Son," Jesus tells of a younger brother who took his share of the family wealth and went to explore the world. He experienced temporary happiness through the things he could buy but made no enduring friendships. He bought fun for a while but failed to realize he needed to buy a place to live. He lived off the fat of the land not realizing