2:10 <\/b>Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.\u00a0<\/b>The Holy Bible: English Standard Version<\/i>. 2001 (Ga 2:10). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.<\/p>\n

I have served as a pastor of a Southern Baptist church, or been a member of a Southern Baptist <\/a>church since 1996.\u00a0 I choose to describe myself as a follow of Jesus Christ, rather than as a Southern Baptist.\u00a0 This identification is because I believe it is more significant to declare our identity in an Eternal God, rather than a man-made denomination.\u00a0 Apart from that, I willingly choose to align myself with Southern Baptists becase of the intentional and strategic plan of the Cooperative Program.\u00a0 Today’s text gives some Biblical support to the issue.<\/p>\n

There are several times in the N.T. that we see Paul’s commitment to serve the poor.\u00a0 Romans 15:25-33, 1 Corinthains 16:1-4, and 2 Corinthians 8:9 serve as examples.\u00a0 Consistently it seems that the method of collection was from the local church, and that Paul distributed the funds to the poor.<\/p>\n

When Peter and the Apostles asked Paul to remember the poor, it was not a burden nor an addition to his ministry.\u00a0 He was willingly eager to continue this tangible ministry.<\/p>\n

As Southern Baptists we follow a similar model.\u00a0 Our local churches combine resources to advance the Gospel.\u00a0 There is an undeniable truth that working together we can achieve more.\u00a0 By faithfully giving as the Lord directs us individually, coupled with the shared resources of the Cooperative Program, it is very possible to advance the Gospel to the ends of the earth.<\/p>\n

I am not naive, these resources must be managed wisely and with a spirit of obedient stewardship.\u00a0 One could be critical of fund management in the past, but regardless the Cooperative Program is still the best approach to missions efforts around the world.\u00a0 It is Biblical and it is best, and that is why I choose to be a Southern Baptist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2:10 Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.\u00a0The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. 2001 (Ga 2:10). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society. I have served as a pastor of a Southern Baptist church, or been a member of a Southern Baptist church since 1996.\u00a0 I choose to describe […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":160,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":163,"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159\/revisions\/163"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rlsmith.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}