Wednesday, November 30, 2011

I know Thanksgiving is behind us but I think it is important that thanksgiving become more than just a one day a year holiday. It is good that we have a tradition of setting aside a day we call Thanksgiving. If your Thanksgiving was anything like mine the things that occupied most of your Thanksgiving was spending time with family, eating great food and watching great football. (Football was great this year because the Cowboys won.) And I don't think there is anything wrong with spending time with family, eating large amounts of good food and watching more football in a single day than I typically watch in a month. The point is we need to adopt an attitude of thanksgiving for every day of the year. When we are not intentional about thanksgiving we naturally fall into an attitude of entitlement. It is so easy to think that we deserve what we have. In fact, I find myself thinking that I deserve more than I have. It is hard to be thankful for what God has blessed me with when I believe I am entitled to more than I have. The other thing I have noticed about thanksgiving is that it leads to generosity. When I am thankful for what God has blessed me with instead of thinking I deserve more than I have, I am more likely to be generous. I begin to find joy in giving. Leaving a larger tip than expected, giving more than a tithe, contributing food to the food drive and buying a toy for a child's Christmas flows out of an attitude of thanksgiving... and it gives me joy. I hope this year my thanksgiving lasts more than a day. May we all be aware of the good things God have blessed us with. I hope to see you tonight. Bruce

Imagine

Things are starting to come together at the ROC, as you can see here. The gym floor was recently installed and striped for basketball and volleyball. Imagine this floor, on a Saturday morning in January, full of kids playing Upward basketball. Imagine their parents and other family members coming to watch. Imagine them hearing someone share the gospel, and coming to know Christ as a result of what they hear. Our church has made a very large investment in the kingdom of God. If you know of anyone who has kids from kindergarten through sixth grade, visit with them about the possibility of enrolling them in this program. They can pick up a brochure here at church, any elementary school, the middle school, Fieldhouse Sports, or they can go to www.upward.org and download a form. Upward Sports is a Christ-centered activity where kids learn the basics of basketball or cheerleading, and learn about Jesus. Help get the word out. There is also a place for you to be involved as a volunteer. We need coaches, referees, halftime devotions and prayer warriors. Imagine being a part of leading a child or parent to Christ. Give me a call if you think this is you. Have a blessed day. Mike

Church Christmas Pageant

I am getting VERY excited for this year's Christmas Pageant! As the weather has gotten cooler and the decorations are being assembled, our church choirs have been practicing for what I anticipate will be a wonderful musical expression of not only the Christmas season, but of the Christ child we adore. Christmas isn't about the lights even though we appreciate their beauty. Christmas isn't about the gifts even though we find joy in giving and receiving them. Christmas isn't about the gathering of family and friends even though we cherish the memory-making times we share. Christmas IS about Jesus Christ, the greatest gift we could ever receive, given to us from our loving Heavenly Father. That is the reason behind "A Sterling Christmas" and it's presentation this year. All of our choirs, from 2 year olds up through our adults, will be singing and celebrating the advent of Jesus Christ over 2000 years ago. The Pageant will be presented on two nights: Saturday, December 10 and Sunday, December 11 at 7:00pm. You will want to invite everyone you know to come and hear the beautiful, joyous, and even poignant music that will be presented. We'll have a small wind ensemble as well as our regular instrumentalists to accompany us. Doors will open at 6:15.

I would also like to take this opportunity to express my appreciation for all of the musically talented people the Lord has blessed our church with. Our instrumentalists are all outstanding and add so much to our worship. We have many gifted singers and soloists who give their talents for the glory of God. Behind the scenes we have people that support the musical presentations through sound, video, television and radio. Thanks be to God for the many parts of the "Body" that He has placed here!

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving faith family. We hope that your holiday is filled with love and gratitude. The church office will be closed Wednesday, November 23 through Friday, November 25. If you should have a personal emergency and need a FBC minister please do not hesitate to call (phone numbers can be found in the church directory.) Again, Happy Thanksgiving and we look forward to worshiping along side of you Sunday. FBC Staff

Finding a Toehold

About six weeks ago our church family was coming out of The Summit, a time when a lot folks felt the presence of the Holy Spirit in a fresh way and made some new commitments to God. As Christians, we will go through peaks and valleys throughout our entire life. One of the things that I have heard people talking and praying about the past few weeks is our need to stay as close as we can to the mountain top and not ever go back as deep into the valley. I've been encouraged lately by some of the ways God is working in the lives of His kids. I've heard of families who are tithing again. I've had someone give me a large love offering for a family who is in need. I've had people volunteer to take on responsibilities at the ROC. Other staff members are sharing similar stories. I'm glad to say that, even though the Summit is over, God is still at work. My challenge to us is to take time to reflect on the times when we have had mountain top experiences, whenever they might have been, and ask God if we have slipped down any. He is faithful and will raise you up. Have a blessed day. Mike

BUILDING THE R. O. C. FOR THE FUTURE

It has been a busy week for the new building that will be called: R-recreational O-outreach C-center. As you drive down Oak Avenue or Gilmer Street, you must be amazed and thankful for the look of the new building. During the past week new grass has been added to the grounds on the outside and now the new stage is being built in the new gymnasium. The ceiling in the new building has been completed and many different jobs are being completed that will lead to the total construction of the R.O.C. We praise the Lord for how God is going to use this new ministry tool to reach people with the gospel of Christ. An important new program that begins at the R. O. C. after the first of January will be Upward Basketball for children. There are pamphlets around the church that help parents with information about Upward Basketball. Please continue to pray for this new ministry outreach that will be open soon and invite your friends in the community to be a part of this new ministry event.

Sunday, November 20, will be a great day at First Baptist Church. It is FBC Fall Roundup Sunday. There will be worship services at 8:30 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. with Pastor Mark preaching from the Word of God. Sunday School will be at 9:45 a.m. Lunch will begin at 11:00 a.m. and all of the special activities will begin at 11:30 a.m. It is going to be an exciting day for members and guests. Please invite your friends and your Sunday School class members to this great church learning and fellowship ministry event.

The annual Community Thanksgiving Service will be this Sunday night at First Baptist Church. It begins at 6:30 p.m. The FBC worship team will lead the congregation in worship and a confederated choir formed by Pastor Nash consisting of members from various churches of the community will provide special music. Also, the Community Wide Food Drive will end on Sunday night. Items needed for the food drive are: canned meats, sugar, oil, Hamburger Helper and canned vegetables.

Billy Graham has written a new book and probably his last book called, “Going Home”. It can be downloaded, read in book form, or heard on CD’s. It is a great book of encouragement and one to cherish for the future. It is written by Billy Graham to help people in the aging process. All of us age from the day of conception until God calls us home. We can try many different means to stay looking young, but nothing stops physical aging except death. Young men during the Revolution period of American history tried to look older by wearing white wigs. Of course the average age was only about 23 years of age. Today, we are living longer and the fastest growing age group in America is individuals of 80 years old and older. The adults of today’s generation spend billions of dollars trying to look younger. From face lifts, hair dyes, wigs, wrinkle-less creams, etc., we try our best to look younger. Regardless of how much one tries or how much money one spends, you will grow older one day at a time. The Bible speaks “…and the beauty of old men is the grey head” (Proverbs 20:29), but the Biblical writer did not consider hair with so many hair colors or dyes.

We are thankful to have you at First Baptist Church. We hope you have a great weekend and will plan to be here this Sunday for an exciting FBC Fall Roundup. Please be in prayer for Pastor Mark and the services. Each person should come with an expectant heart to hear God speak through the message and a Bible in hand that has been read daily. A prayed up, expectant heart and a read Bible will be a great prescription for a rich spiritual worship experience this Sunday. Be sure to share your beautiful smile and a word of encourage to your friends and family members. Whether you are a family of one or a family of more than one, you are needed and welcomed to be with us at First Baptist Church.

God bless you,

Fred W. Lewis

6th Grade Disciple Now

Just a reminder... 6th Grade Disciple Now weekend in December 2nd and 3rd. Cost: $45 You still have time to sign up in the church office or online. Deadline is Monday, November 21. YOU DON'T WANT TO MISS THIS!

There's Nothing Random About God

I met her at Trunk or Treat. She saw our sign offering prayer and filled out a card indicating that her husband needed work and they needed food. I asked her to come find me when her family had gone through the ball field and we would go to the main building and I would get her a sack of groceries from our food closet. Sadly, she didn't make it through the maze on the parking lot and drove straight home so they wouldn't run out of gas. God wouldn't let me let it go, so the next day I went through the registration cards and found her address, took the sack of groceries and headed out. When we finally made contact we talked about her spiritual life and she realized her anger toward God for not coming to their rescue was because she had been trying to work her way to Him. When she finally understood grace she asked Jesus into her heart. If she had had a little more gas in the tank that night she would have driven to the front of the church, picked up the sack and been on her way, and our conversation would have never taken place. Some things that seem so random or coincidental at first glimpse are really part of a masterpiece God has painted on His canvas. When we step back and see the final work of art we can't help but be amazed. Today, look for evidence of God at work and join Him in it. I think Blackerby said that. Have a great day.

Mike

Whatcha Wearin'?

God is so smart. You probably already realize that, but WHAT A TRUTH! He gave us His word, the Bible, so that we would have everything we needed to know Him, build our faith, and walk through life as a successful child of His. He even gave us a great recommendation for what to wear in the process. So...whatcha wearin'?

Ephesians chapter six is where we find the whole armor of God. The reason we even have the armor is so that we can be strong in His grip. It enables us to stand firm against our adversary, the devil. It is a spiritual set of clothes used to combat a spiritual enemy. The components of the armor are a sheer stroke of genius. (I told you He was smart!)

Our brains are what allow us to gain knowledge and separates us from the rest of creation. This very vital organ is located in our heads (no jokes, please). What better way to protect our heads than to gain critical knowledge. "The helmet of salvation." Our minds are protected by the knowledge that declares, "I am a child of God and nothing can take that away from me!" "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved."

The heart is what keeps us going. I once heard someone declare that everyone ends up dying from the same thing - their heart stops! To protect our heart God says we must protect our chest with righteousness. What is so smart about this is that God gives us HIS righteousness, because all of ours are like filthy rags. Once we are saved we then are declared righteous. See how smart He is?

Moving on down we come to our midsection which contains many vital organs. The way we are clothed for this is to wrap up that area with truth. Have you ever believed something that you couldn't quite place a finger on, yet you had this "gut feeling" about it? Well there is nothing better to have in your gut than the absolute truth of God and His word. Knowing the truth satisfies our bellies better than anything else. Sheer genius.

It's not very comfortable to run barefoot over sharp, or prickly ground. You really should have your feet covered by something comfortable and easy to wear. So God gives us spiritual shoes made up of His peaceful gospel. It's comforting to know that God has completed the work of salvation for us through His Son, Jesus. The gospel is simple enough for a child to learn, so it's easy to wear of a sort. Yep! Intelligence beyond compare.

Now that we are clothed properly we have two tools to complete our outfit. We have a shield that is made of impervious material - faith. If our faith is strong enough it can even move mountains! Then we also have a sword that can cut through anything, material or immaterial. That sword is forged by the Holy Spirit and laden with the words of God. Nothing penetrates better than the sharp truth of God's word!

Well, there you have it. A full set of clothes with matching shoes and accessories. All designed by our Omniscient God. So...whatcha wearin'?

Neal

Good morning FBC Family………..Praise God from whom all blessings flow……… Our Harvest Day goal of $500,000 has been exceeded and more continues to come in each day…..Wow! I must admit that I was skeptical when Pastor Mark challenged us with the goal (if you’re honest, you were too). Of course, we had already been given a seed gift of $200,000 for Harvest Day but that still left us with $300,000 to meet the goal. I believe the largest Harvest Day offering we have ever had was around $160,000, so once again, I simply say, Praise the Lord! Our people embraced the challenge and gave sacrificially in a tangible way to say thank you for the blessings of God. The wonderful thing about our Harvest Day is that everyone can participate and each gift is important to help Kingdom growth. Much of the offering will be used to pay down our indebtedness on the new building and save interest.………….. Did I say Praise the Lord? Speaking of the new building, this week the carpet has been put down in the classrooms and on the walking track, the floor tile is just about finished being installed, and the construction of the stage has begun. There are still quite a bit of finish work that will be done in the next few weeks but we are getting very close. Mike Armstrong has been busy recruiting volunteers to help man and operate the ROC so please contact him if you are interested in helping with this ministry opportunity. I guess the cooler temperatures and the changing weather have combined together to have me congested. I could not rest last night so I found myself up at 3:30 a.m. this morning. I have been able to have some extended quiet time with the Lord today and found myself just listening to that still, small voice and praising Him for all that he has done for me and my family. Not every day is an easy day for sure, but God is so good, even in times of heartache and sorrow. These are times that grow and mature us in order to help others. God bless you and yours today and be a blessing to someone else that God will place in your path………See you on Sunday…..Tommy

Wednesday, November 9

First things first, the menu tonight is: Chicken Fried Steak, baked potato, salad and dessert. Things are hopping as usual at the corner of Oak and College. Wednesdays are always busy. It is a little busier than normal today. We've had some computer issues (there are always issues with computers) that have plagued us today. Keeps things interesting. Today I'm working on my Sunday School lesson for this Sunday. The lesson covers Romans 14:1-12 and focuses on how we are called to respect each other. Always a timely subject! I will also spend some time today working on the FBC Roundup. Roundup is November 20, 2011. It is a time for our church family to come together for some fun. We'll serve chili with all the stuff that goes with chili, (Where I'm from we serve Frito's with chili instead of saltine crackers. Haven't really gotten used to the cracker thing.) dessert and tea and there will be a lot of fun things to do. The Roundup is also an opportunity to invite members of our church family who haven't been here in a while to join us again. I know that each of you know that God is working in and through our church. You've probably heard that over 3,000 people joined us for Trunk or Treat. What you might not have heard is as a result of Trunk or Treat at least three people have decided to follow Christ as their Lord and Savior. I am certain there will be more who make that same decision. This is the first time we have had this kind of 'return on our investment' from Trunk or Treat. We have many more families to follow up on. I am thankful God is using us to reach our community. There is still a lot to do. I hope you will join us tonight for Wednesday night at FBC. We start serving dinner at 5PM. Blessings to you. Bruce

ROC Tour

Some of you of been saying you would like to take a tour of the ROC, so Scott and I thought we would oblige. Here's a quick look at a few of the things you can expect. After you see it, give me a call and I'll find you a time slot to volunteer. Have a great day.

Mike

Praying for the persecuted...

In partnership with ministries such as Voice of the Martyrs, First Baptist has agreed to set apart the month of November to remember and pray for the persecuted church, through the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP) - This Sunday, November 13th.  IDOP is a time set apart for us to remember thousands of our Christian brothers and sisters around the world who suffer persecution, simply because they confess Jesus Christ as Lord.

There are many countries in the world today where Christians are martyred for their faith. Believers in Afghanistan are facing death threats; Christians in Uzbekistan, Nigeria and many other countries all around the world face violence, imprisonment and even death. There are other places in the world such as North Korea where acts of persecution take place, but we don’t see or hear of it. Are we willing to stand with our brothers and sisters in prayer? 

Prayer is a mystery and difficult to measure. However, we can look at some of the changes occurring in the past and draw inferences from them.

• Over 100,000 U.S. churches, representing nearly every U.S. denomination, are estimated to have taken part in the IDOP.
• Christians in over 130 countries remembered the persecuted on the IDOP.
• Christian churches are growing in awareness of the problem and coming together in unity to pray for fellow believers.
• Christian leaders in restricted nations report that they are experiencing a new boldness in their witness to others.
• There has been increased media coverage of the problem of persecution in both secular and Christian publications. (In the U.S., such publications include The Denver Post, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Focus on the Family with Dr. James Dobson, Christianity Today, and Message of the Open Bible.)

Join us this Sunday evening as we focus our attention and hearts on an issue that is incredibly important to the heart of God. 

For more information, check out http://www.idop.org/

brian

Friday November, 4, 2011

Good morning FBC Family………..Last Monday night our annual Trunk or Treat event was, once again, a huge success. Over 3100 individuals passed through our ballfield gates to take part. Of course, we understand that some come just for the candy and others come because we provide a safe environment for their children; however some come because they are seeking. We had one young lady stop at our prayer table (which was located at the exit) before she ever entered the ballfield and fill out a card asking for a specific prayer need. Mike Armstrong followed up with her on Tuesday and she prayed to receive Christ at that visit. We have over 80 more cards that are legitimate outreach opportunities and we will be following up with these as quickly as possible. You will be hearing more about this from our pastor because we will need your help in reaching out. We give away candy that is free but we have something else to share that is completely free and will last eternally. Please pray about these visits and pray for how you can help in the process……it takes all of us!
I continue to be asked when our new building, the Recreational Outreach Center (ROC), will be finished. My standard answer is “the end of the year”. I do think it is quite possible that it could be sooner but I do not want to give false hope. The truth is that we are getting very close but not finished just yet. I do sense a growing sense of excitement from many of our church family and even from others in the community that are looking forward to being able to use the facility. One of our former pastors shared in his video that buildings do not reach people, people reach people, but buildings are tools to help us reach others with the “Good News”. That is exactly why we have built this building and it our prayer that, throughout the years, many will come to Christ.
This coming Sunday is “Harvest Day Sunday” and I pray that all of us have prayed and sought direction about our participation. Harvest Day has never been about the amount of the offering. Harvest Day is about giving back to our Lord an offering of thanksgiving for the blessings we receive. We cannot all give the same amount but we can all joyfully participate………for His glory!.........God bless you. I trust you will have a good day and a good weekend. See you on Sunday…………Tommy