by Brian Walters, Director of Adult Ministries @ MBC Loudoun  

Do you remember who the Gibeonite’s were in Scripture?  They were the inhabitants of the city Gibeon, which was northwest of Jerusalem. The Gibeonite’s were about seven miles from Ai, one of the cities Joshua lead the Israelites to conquer as God’s people were taking over the Promised Land (Joshua 8). Gibeon feared for their lives because they saw how Ai and Jericho were destroyed by Israel, so they deceived Israel into making peace with them (Joshua 9).

Recently, I read about this Gibeonite deception of Israel and I got very frustrated because I wondered why Israel kept their promise with the Gibeonites after they deceived them. The Gibeonites acted like they came from a distant land to make peace w/Israel. They even dressed up in old and dirty clothes to play the part. They totally lied to Israel so to me the foundation of this agreement, or contract, should have been voided because it was based completely on inaccurate and false information. 

So why did Israel keep their promise? As I began meditating, praying and looking over the chapter carefully I came across verse 14, which says, “So the men took some of their provision, but did not ask counsel from the Lord.”  So Israel and its leaders before making a promise should have prayed for guidance from the Lord and for wisdom to determine if this was the right thing to do – a strong point that we can take away from John’s sermon this past weekend. While I knew this was an important point, it wasn’t the reason Israel kept their promise.

I then saw verse 11 which says, “We are your servants.  Come now, make a covenant with us.”  And there in lies the reason why the Israelites did not revoke or terminate the promise they made with the Gibeonites – the word “covenant.”  You see a covenant is often mistaken for a contract, but the two things are very different. I realized I had made this mistake myself.

The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology defines a covenant as, “A compact or agreement between two parties binding them mutually to undertakings on each other’s behalf.” A covenant is based on trust before two parties, as opposed to a contract, which is based on distrust. A covenant is based on unlimited responsibility and a contract is based on limited liability. A covenant cannot be broken if new circumstances occur and a contract can be voided by mutual consent. A covenant is not something that can be broken.

So now that you know what the difference between a covenant and contract now I challenge those who are married to ask themselves is my marriage a covenant or a contract?  For those you are single and have made a covenant to God with your eyes or perhaps a covenant not to gossip, my question to you would be have you treated this covenant as a contract?  Let’s take time this week to look into those areas of our life that we have made a covenant and see if we are truly treating those things as a covenant instead of contract.  Remember, “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (John 14:21).

Authored by: J.C. Ryle and posted by Brian Walters

It seems like everyday we all could name someone who has a sickness or illness.  This could be a sibling, a family member, a spouse, a child, a friend or even a friend of a friend.  So I thought the blog post by J.C. Ryle below may shed some light on some ways God can use sickness in our lives. Enjoy!

1. Sickness is meant to make us think—to remind us that we have a soul as well as a body—an immortal soul—a soul that will live forever in happiness or in misery—and that if this soul is not saved we had better never have been born.

2. Sickness is meant to teach us that there is a world beyond the grave—and that the world we now live in is only a training-place for another dwelling, where there will be no decay, no sorrow, no tears, no misery, and no sin.

3. Sickness is meant to make us look at our past lives honestly, fairly, and conscientiously. Am I ready for my great change if I should not get better? Do I repent truly of my sins? Are my sins forgiven and washed away in Christ’s blood? Am I prepared to meet God?

4. Sickness is meant to make us see the emptiness of the world and its utter inability to satisfy the highest and deepest needs of the soul.

5. Sickness is meant to send us to our Bibles. That blessed Book, in the days of health, is too often left on the shelf, becomes the safest place in which to put a bank-note, and is never opened from January to December. But sickness often brings it down from the shelf and throws new light on its pages.

6. Sickness is meant to make us pray. Too many, I fear, never pray at all, or they only rattle over a few hurried words morning and evening without thinking what they do. But prayer often becomes a reality when the valley of the shadow of death is in sight.

7. Sickness is meant to make us repent and break off our sins. If we will not hear the voice of mercies, God sometimes makes us “hear the rod.”

8. Sickness is meant to draw us to Christ. Naturally we do not see the full value of that blessed Savior. We secretly imagine that our prayers, good deeds, and sacrament-receiving will save our souls. But when flesh begins to fail, the absolute necessity of a Redeemer, a Mediator, and an Advocate with the Father, stands out before men’s eyes like fire, and makes them understand those words, “Simply to Your cross I cling,” as they never did before. Sickness has done this for many—they have found Christ in the sick room.

9. Last, but not least, sickness is meant to make us feeling and sympathizing towards others. By nature we are all far below our blessed Master’s example, who had not only a hand to help all, but a heart to feel for all. None, I suspect, are so unable to sympathize as those who have never had trouble themselves—and none are so able to feel as those who have drunk most deeply the cup of pain and sorrow.

by Brian Walters, Director of Adult Ministries @ MBC Loudoun

 “Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more” (1 Thessalonians 4:9-10).

In the passage above, Paul is stating that love is a birthmark of a believer in Jesus Christ (1 John 3:14; 1 Peter 1:22; 1 John 4:9–12). We must love all of God’s people even the lost (1 Thes. 3:12), more every day. To love one another is to embody the family of Christ. God has taught us how to “brotherly love” (philadelphias) (Romans 12:10; Hebrews 13:1). So where can you find this mutual Christ like love at McLean Bible Church?

The answer is Small Groups. I know what you are thinking, “Brian is over this ministry so he is shameously plugging it.”  :)  But that is really not the case.  Small Groups are one of the primary ways we become more fully devoted followers of Christ at MBC. Small Groups are where we grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ as truth comes to life. Small Groups are where we connect in authentic biblical community. Small Groups are where we serve each other and where we discover our gifts and share the message of Christ so that we can impact Washington, DC. Additionally, Small Groups get people connected into a caring community and it is where agapan (love) can be lived out more every day.

Small Groups are a caring community because they foster and build healthy relationships within the body of Christ in the context of community, learning to love, encourage, take risks and be accountable to those in the group. Getting involved in a Small Group at MBC Loudoun is so important with the hustle and bustle that exists within our society because Small Groups help take us from the distractions of this world and refocus our eyes on Bible study and spiritual disciplines that lead to sanctification. Small Groups provide a loving environment where you can discuss that stressful day you had with others without being criticized or judged, it is a place where you find and feel love by others even though you may not find a caring community anywhere else.

So the take away here is to get plugged into a MBC Loudoun Small Group. For more information about Small Groups or to get connected in one, please go to: www.mbcloudoun.org/smallgroups. As the Director of Adult Ministries here at MBC Loudoun it is my prayer and desire to get everyone connected into a Small Group. Remember learning to love is a never-ending discipline to which we all need to strive to continually improve.  This is just another part of the sanctification process. May we all strive to love one another more and more every day of our lives.

by Wendy Jo Melcher, Access Coordinator @ MBC Loudoun

MBC Loudoun has a new family who started attending church during the month of June. The parents were hesitant at first to leave their precious children with strangers, especially when one of their children has special needs which includes a communication barrier. When your child is unable to inform you of how their day went or what happened during their day, this causes a huge trust issue. As a parent, you are very hesitant and fearful of leaving your child with people you don’t know and trust. This is where Core Value #8 came into play,“Everything we do must be done with excellence.” Colossians 3:23-24 23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. We made this family feel like their child was the one and only child we were responsible for as well as reassuring them that this is a place where their child will feel loved, safe, and learn about our Lord Jesus Christ. This family’s other child attends Kids Quest and I know Kids Quest made them feel just as welcomed and comfortable. The entire family has attended church “TOGETHER” now for the past month. The reason for the importance of stating “TOGETHER” is MBC Loudoun is the first church they have been to in the past 9 years that allows the entire family to go at one time.

by Brian Walters, Director of Adult Ministries @ MBC Loudoun

In my previous Core Value #5 blog we talked about treating all people with gentleness and respect no matter what we do.  Well, today I’m going to present you with two scenarios to demonstrate how we should and should not live out Core Value #5 in everyday situations.

Scenario #1: Picture this, a first time visitor comes to MBC Loudoun this coming Sunday.  Our guest is warmly greeted and takes her seat in the sanctuary. Not a second later, a regular attendee of MBC Loudoun comes up to our guest and fusses that she is “in their seat” and needs to move. This regular attendee proceeds to say “I’ve been coming to this church since it opened and I have always sat in that seat and no new person is going to take this seat away from me.” Do you think this visitor will feel cared for and loved? Probably not, right?

Well, I am certain that this kind of behavior would never happen at MBC Loudoun, but sadly this kind of behavior does happen all the time at churches all across the country.  Insensitive acts such as this may seem minor but have a major impact on the likelihood of a guest becoming a regular attendee or a member. 

Scenario #2: It is Easter morning at MBC Loudoun and the 10:45 am service is packed. Even our overflow area in The Rock is packed beyond belief.  At the beginning of Lon’s sermon an individual who looks dirty, smells like he hasn’t bathed in weeks, and reeks of urine wanders in to look for a seat but there is none available. So he sits down on the ground to the left of the worship stage in front of the big screen. Everyone notices this person but no one knows what they should do.  A MBC Loudoun regular attendee gets up from his seat in the front row and offers it to this man. The individual says no thanks so the regular attendee then sits down on the ground next to this man/woman for the rest of the sermon.  After the sermon is completed the regular attendee introduces himself, takes this individual out to lunch and helps this individual get situated at the Loudoun Homeless shelter.

The second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as you love yourself (Matthew 22:39). By being obedient to this commandment and living it out people will be cared for and loved as a result.

The member in the first scenario put their own needs and wants before another individual. The attendee in this second scenario showed love and kindness to a complete stranger. The church is not a country club and should not to be consumer driven, but the church should be a hospital for sinners and saints. The take away is the body of Christ needs to put others needs before we put our own needs to help ensure people get plugged into a loving and caring community.

Our goal should be to treat everyone with gentleness and respect just like the attendee did in the second scenario.  While this might not always be the most comfortable thing for us to do, it is the right thing to do.  Let’s strive for excellence. Wait isn’t that another Core Value.  :)

by Brian Walters, Director of Adult Ministries @ MBC Loudoun

Yesterday, I was heading down the Dulles Toll Road on my way to Launch, which is the men’s morning community group at our campus. Typically when heading out to work I take that time to pray as I did on this day. As I was praying, I looked up into my rear view mirror to see a car quickly approaching behind from far away, positioning itself directly behind. I knew immediately it was a police officer, the only question was, whether or not he was getting behind me to pace me or if he already clocked me with his radar gun. I looked down at my speed and it was 70. I had no idea I was going that fast, but I knew at that moment he had already gotten me. His lights and siren then came on. Do you know that sinking stomach feeling or nervous feeling you get when you see a police car with lights and sirens on behind you? Well, for the first time I didn’t have that feeling when getting pulled over. (Yes, I used to have a lead foot when younger.) I knew I had broken the law and this was the justice I deserved.

The officer approached my car and took my license and registration. When he went back to his car to run his background check and write the ticket and I began praying that God would somehow reduce the ticket to maybe 10 miles over the speed limit instead of 15 miles over the speed limit. I even thought about asking the officer if he calibrated his radar gun, because if he hadn’t I knew I could get out of the ticket. I decided to take the high road and not say anything. I prayed that God would have mercy on me. The officer came back to the car and told me because of my good driving record he was only going to give me a failure to obey a traffic sign ticket instead of a speeding ticket. He also told me this would be one less point on my license too. Can you say, AMEN!

You see this situation reminded me of what Jesus did for us on the cross in that justice is what we deserve for our sin. Justice means death and separation from God “for no one is righteous, not even one of us” (Romans 3:10, 23). By not giving me the penalty I deserved, that police officer showed me mercy, which reminded me of how God shows me mercy every day that I live (Psalm 103:8; Ephesians 2:4; 1 Peter 1:3). If that officer came back and said, “I’m going to let you go with no ticket, just please slow down,” that would have been grace. Grace is giving us something we totally and utterly don’t deserve. Grace is what God showed us on the cross (Ephesians 2:5). While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8-9). Jesus paid the penalty and bore the justice we deserved for being sinners at the cross. This reminded me of how much God truly loves us. This reminded me that He deserves nothing but our best. Additionally, this reminded me that I need to pick up my cross daily. Thanks God for reminding me of these things and giving me the opportunity to reconcile my relationship with you.

Do you have the desire to improve your marriage? Since “YES” should be the answer for everyone on this question then you all should plan on attending the 2011 McLean Bible Church Marriage Conference on October 7-8, 2011.

Some of the topics this years marriage conference will cover are Communication, How to Share Things that Bug You, and Making Sex a Mutual Joy. This conference is for all ages of marriages and the key note speaker will be Dr. Gary Chapman. You may of heard of his award winning book The Five Love Languages.

We expect this conference to sell out quickly so please don’t wait to the last minute to register. Below are instructions to register as a LOUDOUN Group, which will save you a few bucks.

• To register in the LOUDOUN Group, go to www.mcleanbible.org/marriageconference
• On the right side of the page, you will see Registration Information. Click on the blue box that says “Register With A Group”.  
• You will need to log into Fellowship One to continue with registration. (If you do not have a fellowship one account, you will need to create one to complete your registration.)
• Once logged in, you will need to select an individual to register. The Marriage You’ve Always Wanted Registration Form will pop up. You will be asked to answer a couple a questions followed by information regarding group registration.

              For name of organization, please enter “LOUDOUN”
              For contact person, please enter “Brian Walters”

• Then click “continue” at the bottom of the page.
• If you would like to register your spouse, click on “register another person” BEFORE filling out your payment information. Then you will need to select your spouse and repeat the process.  When you click continue, both of your names should appear on the checkout page. After filling in your payment information, please review and make sure all information is correct before clicking submit. 

If you have any additional questions on the registration or the conference itself, you can email marriageconference@mcleanbible.org.

by Jim Supp, Campus Pastor @ MBC Loudoun

I’ve always hated that phrase. Is it really true that the only ‘gains’ in life come as a result of pain? Aren’t there some wonderful things in life that just get to be wonderful without some kind of pain in order to get there? Hmm – let me think. A great career usually follows years of hard work both in college and then ‘paying your dues’ in the work environment. A great marriage takes a lot of hard work in preparation and then ongoing investment in order to stay strong. Ending up with a great young adult child takes a lot of hard work and even sleepless nights as you raise them to follow Christ. It is hard to come up with something in life that is really worthwhile that doesn’t take hard work and, oftentimes, some pain. Ugh! I was kind of hoping to come up with a list of things to the contrary.

So I am 8 weeks past my rotator cuff shoulder surgery. I am convinced that this is the time period in which Physical Therapists start receiving nicknames that have the word ‘torture’ in them. “Ouch, that hurts!” I say. “I know. Just a little bit further,” the therapist says. Sounds like “no pain, no gain” to me. Each day I am reminded as I am doing my exercises the principle found in 1 Corinthians 9:25. It tells us that everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training to get the prize. Sounds like hard work to me. Sounds like sacrifice, discipline and maybe even some pain before the gain. And so, whether I like it or not, there is some real biblical truth to this popular phrase No Pain, No Gain. Sorry about that.

by Lauren Payne, Associate Director of Ministry Teams @ MBC Loudoun

Kickstands up! The Second Annual Motorcycle Charity Ride benefitting our 2011 Loudoun Nicaragua teams rolled out of Leesburg this past Saturday. The sun was shining and the bikes were glistening and team members and fellow riders gathered in their support of MBC Loudoun’s partnership with ORPHANetwork.

The riders got to enjoy a beautiful ride through the Shenandoah before heading back to Leesburg for some good food, raffles and prizes. Raffle tickets were given away by the arm’s length, so it was best to find a tall person to do the measuringJ.

A special thanks to Jack Sanders for organizing the ride for the second year in a row! He is no doubt a blessing to his fellow riders but also to the work our mission teams have been doing down in Bluefields, Nicaragua.

Our Loudoun 2011 teams are gearing up for heading down to Bluefields, Nicaragua on July 1st. The teams will be commissioned at the Loudoun campus during the services the weekend of June 25/26 and would feel so blessed knowing the body of Christ is praying for them as we as a campus are sending them out. To find out more about Loudoun’s partnership with ORPHANetwork and ways to be involved with the partnership, check out mbcloudoun.org/missions.

Thank you!

by Lauren Payne, Associate Director of Ministry Teams @ MBC Loudoun

First, a big THANK YOU to everyone that donated a bike! I admit, I had low expectations of how many bikes would be donated due to the limited time we advertised the collection. But the Lord scolded me (oh ye of little faith!) and by the end of the 10:45 service we had over 30 bikes lined up outside the main entrance! Incredible! I am consistently blown away by the generous, serving nature of this campus –the hands and feet of Christ are truly at work here.

Second, I want to say THANK YOU on behalf of ORPHANetwork, who will ship the bikes down to Nicaragua. The bikes end up at Casa Bernabe in Vera Cruz where teen orphans are trained on bicycle repair. This gives the teens valuable work experience while learning both a new trade and entrepreneurial skills. The bikes are sold and the profits go back to the Casa Bernabe orphanage. It truly is a life-changing opportunity for these teens and it continues to thrive through the partnership with ORPHANetwork and the generous donations of bicycles.

For more information about what ORPHANetwork is doing down in Nicaragua, you can visit their website at orphanetwork.org.