Last week, two momentous occasions passed.

Pastor Keith has been teaching on small groups, currently known as care groups at CBC, for the past several Sundays. I am so excited because if he is teaching correctly and according to the Bible, and he is....then I have been a part of a Biblical small group for over two years. Bonnie, Ellen, and I have been meeting on Wednesdays to discuss our sin, confess our sin, read the Bible to confront sin and pray for freedom and grace for one another . We have much to learn still...that is becoming clear on Sunday nights but praise God for his beginning. I am so sinful and lost and such a good deceiver. I deceive myself and others about my sin...we all do....our enemy is the greatest deceiver of all. Pride and fear kept me enslaved to quietness over my sin for so long. And in that quietness, I struggled alone and broken. This group of three women, women who are broken vessels....women who deceive and sin...women who struggle daily...this group has changed my life. It has set me free to fight the battle against sin openly with assurrance that I'm not alone. It has given me courage to speak up...courage to live openly without my covering of fig leaves. It has brought hope to my marriage....hope to my children who are transparent now and will not live in isolation for years....hope to my relationships with other women...a living, breathing hope that cannot be taken from me. Sin has no dominion over me....when I speak it out loud, chains are broken. How could we not yearn for that. Our facebooks...our twitters...our speech are full of our right to be free...and yet when God clearly sets before us an avenue of freedom we do not pursue it....we do not run after it demanding to be a part of this blessed freedom. Small groups matter...small groups in a Biblical way are life changing....freedom giving...hope filling instruments of sanctification. Praise God for my two precious sisters...they have heard me and seen me at my worst and loved me without condition. I am thankful beyond words for God's great grace to me.

"A student is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher" (Jesus, as recorded in Luke 6:40).

I am the pastor of a Southern Baptist Church. Baptists throughout their history have distinctly held to a belief in church autonomy.

Sunday morning Pastor Keith preached a message that cut my heart in so many ways. He preached about
obstacles to contentment or peaceful satisfaction in Christ. One of those obstacles was a love of money
which is many times lived out in the form of workaholic lives.

"He said to me, 'Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your inward parts with this scroll which I am giving you.' Then I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth" (Ezekiel 3:3).

*Let me introduce Lori Beard. I have invited her to be a guest blogger on this site from time to time. Lori serves the church I pastor as a Biblical Counselor and Women's Ministry Leader. I know God will bless and challenge you through her blog entries. So, enjoy this first "entry" from my Sister in Christ.

This is a continuation of the previous post. Let's briefly look at the final 5 big issues facing families today per the Lifeway Research article http://www.lifeway.com/article/164120.