July 12, 2014

This is just a test of the new blog system for Antioch Baptist Church.  Just trying to see how this works and how it will look on the website.

Thank You!

 

October 27, 2013

We had a great day today in God’s house.  We had a good number of visitors with 17 kids riding the bus yesterday. 

This morning’s Sunday school lesson was on Jason and how that he had the right friends in his life and he hung out with the right kind of friends.  So we looked this morning at how we can be a true friend and what true friends are.  A true friend will love at all times.  No matter what we face, whether good or bad, they will love us and be there for us.  A real friend will also give faithful wounds.  Those faithful wounds are the wounds that we receive when our real friends tell us the truth whether we want to hear it or not.  Their advice or counsel hurts us at the moment, but in the end we realize they told us what we needed to hear.  A true friend will also give hearty counsel.  They will give advice and counsel that comes from the heart.  It will be something they have thought about will tell it to us from their heart. A real friend will also sharpen our countenance.  They will sharpen us spiritually in the things of God by encouraging us to draw closer to the Lord and to be more like Him.  They will also sharpen our face and will help us to have a smile on our face when we are down or sad.  They will do what they can to help us and encourage us to be a better Christian.  We will finish this lesson next week.  But, what kind of a friend are you?  Are you a true friend?

This morning, Pastor preached on “A Payment That Will Not Bounce” out of Romans 6:23.  Eternity is a big word that we had better be prepared for.  Eternity is very important to our lives and we need to get things straightened out and make sure we are prepared when it’s our time to die.  A lot of people are scared about eternity because they do not know where they will go when they die.  The payment for sin will always be just.  The payment for sin is Hell.  The payment for sin will be made by everybody.  If we have had our sins covered by the blood of Jesus Christ will we go to heaven, but if we have not then we will go to a place called Hell.  The payment for sin has already been paid though by the death of Christ on the cross of Calvary over 2,000 years ago.  Jesus laid down His life and paid the wage of sin when He died on the cross.  The payment has been made, but it is up to us to accept the payment for our sins.  Until we accept that Jesus paid the payment for our sin we will be on our way to a devil’s Hell. Are you prepared for eternity?  Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your payment for your sin?  Where will you spend eternity when you die?

Tonight, Pastor preached out of Proverbs 22:1 and Ecclesiastes 7:1 on “A Good Name”.  We ought to desire to have a good name.  If we will take care of our character, our reputation will take care of itself.  A bad though life will ruin a good name because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.  What we think about will eventually come out in our life.  One mistake can ruin the good name we have acquired over the years.  We can get our good name back after many years, but our one mistake will never be forgotten.  If we are going to have a good name, we are going to have to guard our heart.  You are going to have to choose to make a good name, and make a choice to guard your heart.  The choice is ours to make, but it’s an important choice that needs to be made in our lives.  We have a choice to make, what will it be?  Will you choose to have a good name and guard your heart?  We need more people that has a good name and that will guard their heart so that they can have a good name. 

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October 17, 2013

Well, we heard another good message by Bro. Brown tonight.  Tonight he preached out of John 3:16 on “Stewardship”.  A steward is one who is in charge of someone’s personal belongings that is not theirs.  As Christians we are stewards of a lot of things because nothing we have or are is our own.  Our time, our talents, our life, our body, our money is not our own, but it is Christ’s.  God made us stewards over our money.  Our money is not ours, but God is the one that has given us the money that we do have.  Christianity is all about giving because it first began with God giving to us.  As a Christian we should give back to the Lord what He has given to us.  He doesn’t expect all our money back, but He does expect 10% plus in other offerings that are taken up in the church.  As a steward, we are required to give.  We are required to give our tithe, which is 10% of what we make in a week with our jobs.  Giving is not optional, but we are obligated to give.  There is some reason we should give.  We should give because of God’s love for us, and because of our love for God.  We can give without loving, but we cannot love without giving.  We fail to give as we should when we are not conscious of God’s love for us and to us.  We ought to give cheerful, not grudgingly or of necessity.  Our giving should be done with a joyful heart, with delight.  The rewards for giving is out of this world because God will always give back more than we give.  He may not give us back what we give monetarily, but there are things He will give us that will mean just as much as what we gave.  He satisfied us when we give.  He will make sure all our needs are met.  How are you giving?  Are you giving? 

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October 16, 2013

Missions Conference 2013 has officially begun and it started off with a bang.  We cannot wait to see what the rest of the week has for us.  Bro. Ray Brown is the preacher for the Missions Conference this week.

What a way to start out our Missions Conference than to start it off with a message from Bro. Ray Brown on “Darkest Places Need The Brightest Light” out of Philippians 2:12-18.  He started out by giving a challenge to us to make a difference by one.  We cannot make a difference by two, three, or four, but we can make a difference by one because we are only one person.  The darker a place is, the more light is needed to brighten the room.  Light was solely made for darkness.  Without darkness we would not need a flashlight, or lights in our houses, or lights on our cars.  But there is darkness, and since there is darkness we need light.  Same truth holds out spiritually.  The world is dark with sin and we as Christians should be the light that is needed to shine in those dark places.  We have a purpose in this world, and that is to shine as lights for Christ in this dark world no matter where God has placed us.  Light is subject to influence. Light can be hindered, or helped by its surroundings.  If we are not carefully we can let things in our lives that will hinder our light from shining as bright as it should for the glory of God.  If we turn just a tad to the left or to the right, the Son of God will not be able to shine on our lives right and our light in this world will be hindered.  We must stay straight and stay on the path that God has for us so that our light will not be hindered.  Lights are bearers of blessings.  How many times have we said “Thank You” for some light when it was dark outside or inside the house?  As Christians we should be bearers of blessings.  We should be a blessing to this dark world, and to other Christians as well that may be struggling spiritually.  This world and others needs people that are bearers of blessings.  There is enough bad going around; we need some good going around.  Lastly, a light has to be lit.  No light just shines on its own, but it has help; whether it’s a match, or a switch, light has to have help and be lit.  God wants us to be the match the lights a bigger flame.  We can do that by making a difference in one person’s life.  God lit us when we got saved, and He wants us to go and light other people’s lives with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Are you a light?  Are you making a difference in one person’s life?  Make a difference in one person.

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October 13, 2013

We had a great day in God’s house.  We had around 10 visitors in the morning service and about 8 in the evening service.  We thank God for all the visitors we had today. 

This morning’s Sunday school lesson was on Jude and how that he was a man of compassion that made a difference.  Not much is known of Jude, but from the short book he wrote, we can learn a few things.  One trait that Jude had was that he was a man of compassion.  He cared for others and wanted to make a difference in their lives.  We need to be like Jude and be a person that is filled with compassion for those that are around us.  Compassion is what will make the difference in the life of others.  Not everybody will have compassion, only some will have compassion.  We ought to have compassion towards others because we are commanded in the Bible to show compassion.  If we don’t have compassion like the Bible says we should have, we can learn how to have compassion.  The first thing we need to do is to ask God for compassion.  If we ask God for compassion and are truly serious in the matter, God will give us the desire of our heart and give us the compassion that we need for the souls of others.  If we ask in faith, believing, we will receive what we have asked for.  God wants us to have compassion, so if we ask for it, He will give it to us.  Also, we need to see the needs of others.  If we look at people for who they are and not always think of ourselves, we will see the needs of others.  When we look at the needs of others we will want to show compassion towards them.  Looking at others will help us gain the compassion that we want.  Lastly, we may have to face some infirmities ourselves.  We may have to go through trials, testing, or temptations to be able to show compassion towards some people.  Do you have compassion?  If not, you can have compassion towards others.  If you have compassion, it is making a difference in the lives of others for the good?

This morning, Pastor preached out of John 10:1-14 on “The Men Of John 10”.  One man mentioned in this chapter is the thief.  The thief’s desire is to kill and to destroy.  He has no right motive; he doesn’t care about the other person.  A thief is only concerned about himself and no one else.  He knows our weakest point and will attack at that point, area, and/or time.  He will take a little bit out of our life at a time.  A thief will only go after that which is valuable, and in God’s sight, we are valuable to Him.  The devil is out as a thief to kill or destroy us.  The devil is out to get us because he cannot stand it that we are valuable to God.  When we get saved, God places a value on our life because we are His.  The devil doesn’t like it so he wants to deface us as much as possible.  We have got to be careful of the thief and also the robber.  But, there is one Good Person in this story, and that is the Shepherd (The Lord Jesus Christ).  He only comes through the door while the enemy peaks over the wall.  He has a distinctive voice and His sheep will know His voice.  His voice is different than the devils.  We will know His voice when He speaks to us.  He will call us by name, and will take care of us and lead us in the path of life that He has for us.  We must follow the Shepherd and be careful of the tricks and traps that the devil has placed out for us. 

Tonight, Dr. Ronald Young preached for us.  Since this is mission’s month and the beginning of mission’s week, he preached a message on missions.  Dr. Young preached on “The Basics Of Missions” out of Acts 1:8.  We support missions because we have a heart for missions.  Missionaries are not the only missionaries, because we should ALL be missionaries.  We ought to be about telling others about Christ.  When we have a heart to do it, god will give us an opportunity to do it.  There is a divine nature inside of us that will guide us and help us.  It will give us the power to be a missionary and to tell others about our Lord.  We are given the power through the Word of God and through the preaching of God’s Word.  In missions, there is a duty.  We must give up our pleasures, our desires, and our families if we are going to be a disciple of Christ.  If we are going to be a missionary, the souls of others must become more important than all of our pleasures and desires.  We must sell out, because if we don’t we will quit and become a laughing stock to this world.  It’s worth it all to sell out for Him.  We must count the cost, but God is right behind us helping us to lay aside our pleasures, our desires, our families, etc.  Lastly, there is the direction of missions.  It will be worth it all if you are doing all that God wants us to do.  The One inside us will make us what we want to be for Him.  If we are going to be a missionary and have a burden for souls, we must look up.  We must look to God and ask Him for a burden and to break our hearts for this lost and dying world.  How is your vision?  How is your burden?  Do you have a burden for a lost and dying world? 

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October 6, 2013

We had a tremendous day in the house of the Lord today.  This morning’s Sunday school lesson was on Stephanas and how he had a vision for people because he was addicted to the ministry.  He was addicted to people in the area of helping them in the service of the Lord.  As Christians we need to be addicted to the ministry and we need to have a vision for helping others.  If our vision is not 20/20 in having a vision for others, there are some things we can do to increase our vision.  If we will get in the Word of God and read it and study it, it will help us to gain a better vision for others.  It will teach us how to love, respect, and treat others.  Prayer is another way we can increase our vision for souls.  We need to pray and ask God to give us a clearer vision for the souls of man whether they are lost or saved.  If we are faithful to church it shows to others that we care about them and are concerned about their soul and their spirituality.  Others will think we don’t care if we are not faithful to church.  Another way to increase our vision is to give.  Give of our money to tithes and missions.  Tithes are what will keep the lights on and the air conditioner going so that visitors and members alike will be able to come to church.  Give to missions so that we can support missionaries that will tell others about the Lord in foreign countries, and in places we cannot go. Lastly, we should go on visitation to help increase our vision for others.  We will get to see people and meet people and get to talk to them, and that will help increase our vision of helping others.  How is your vision for other people?  Is your vision 20/20 or is it 20/200?

This morning, Pastor preached on “It’s Where It’s At That Makes A Difference” out of Jeremiah 20:7-13.  In these passages of Scripture, Jeremiah wanted to quit.  He was tired and ready to give up because of the reproach he was getting daily from delivering God’s messages to the people.  He spoke the truth, but all the people did was laughing him to scorn for his messages.  If what we believe in and stand for is in our heart, it’s a part of us.  It will be real and it will last.  There will be a desire to do what is right and to stand for what is right as well.  Everyone around Jeremiah wanted to see him fall, they wanted to see him quit and to stop speaking the Word of God to them.  The same thing holds true today.  The world and others still desire to see those that are saved and on fire for God fall by the wayside.  They keep waiting and looking for the moment when we fall.  If we listen to the flesh, the devil, and the world we will fall by the wayside.  We have got to get away from the flesh, the devil, and the world, and start listening to the spiritual man, the Word of God, and God.  When the going gets tough, we just need to buckle down and get in God’s Word and not allow anything to move us from following after the Lord and His way for our lives. 

Tonight, Pastor preached out of Hebrews 12:1-3 on “You Can Make It”.  If we set our mind to anything we can do it, we can make it.  We can make it in the Christian realm but we will be faced with opposition, opinions of others, and ourselves.  If we are not careful the opinion of others and the opposition we face will begin to affect our thinking.  We will begin to think that the world is right, that we cannot make it.  If we get the mind of Christ though, we will be able to make it because we will have the right mindset.  We can make it because of the examples that are set before us.  We can look in the Bible and read about the lives of great men and women of God and see how they made it.  We can gain strength and courage from their lives.  Knowing that they made it will help us to think that we can make it.  We also can look at the lives of people we know today that have made it.  They can be examples to us on how we can make it in today’s society.  If men and women of God can make it today, so can we.  We can make it because of the path that has already been established for us.  The path has been laid out for us in the Word of God.  If we will get in the Word of God and get close to God, we will know the path that we should take.  But, if we take the wrong path, that path will lead to destruction and our lives will be ruined.  If we take the wrong path, we will not make it.  Lastly, we can make it because we have a perfect picture.  We can look at the Lord Jesus Christ and realize that He made it so can we.  We have a perfect example to look too in our spiritual life.  Are you struggling tonight, are you thinking about quitting, thinking about giving up?  Look to God and the Word of God for strength.  You can make it.  If others have made it, so can you.  Don’t give up and don’t give in.

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October 2, 2013

We had a good service tonight.  We had 7 visitors with us tonight in the service. 

Pastor preached out of I Thessalonians 2:1-20 on “The Life Of A Leader”.  Every person is a leader whether it is for the better or for the worse.  A person that is a good leader and a leader that will lead other to a closer walk with the Lord will be one that has a life that is filled with self-denial.  They will desire fruit to be displayed from their lives.  They do what they can to help someone out if even if they have to put their life on hold to do so.  It may be costly to them, but that doesn’t matter to them because their sole desire is to help other grow in the Lord and to get a closer walk with the Lord.  They will also have a life that is separated.  They will separate themselves from themselves to do what needs to be done or what others want them to do.  They want to help others out even if it means they must work to do so.  A real life will also have a life filled with seriousness.  Their life will be different in many ways.  They will look different than the world, and they care nothing about looking like the world.  Their dress will be different than the world.  Their attitude and behavior will be different.  Their beliefs will differ from what others think about them or they think about the ways of the Lord.  They will be different on purpose.  Also, a real leader will have a life of setbacks.  The road to being a leader is hard, there is hurts, and there is hindrances put in their way by Satan himself.  Satan is digging a lot of holes, and will do anything to hinder someone that is a leader and leading others to Christ.  Lastly, a real leader’s life will end in satisfaction.  They will be satisfied with the life that they have lived and will not be ashamed of anything or anyone in the Lord.  They will be satisfied with the rewards of their life knowing that they will see those that they have helped one day in the presence of God.  They will be satisfied with the memories they have made over the years of helping others spiritually.  Are you a leader?  If you are a leader, what kind of a leader are you?

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September 28, 2013

What a day the Lord allowed us to have in the house of God today.  The Lord met with us in a special way today in the services.  We had 23 visitors this morning with 19 of them riding on the bus.  Praise the Lord for His goodness to us.

This morning, our Sunday school lesson was on Onesiphorus and how that he oft refreshed the Apostle Paul.  Many times, over and over again, he refreshed the Apostle Paul.  As a Christian, we should be refreshing one another just as Onesiphorus did to the Apostle Paul.  We can refresh others by our words.  Our words are more important than we think they are.  We looked at several verses this morning and how we should speak our words.  Our words should be a well of life, a well of refreshment, to others that are around us.  Our words should bring life to our friends in the faith and to those that we attend church with.  Our words should be satisfying.  They should be satisfying to God, to ourselves, and to those that we are speaking with.  If we speak rightly, our words will be satisfying to us, but if we speak wrongly, our words will not satisfy us.  Our words should also be uplifting to others.  When we see a brother or sister struggling spiritually we should do our best to try and uplift them with some words of encouragement.  Our words should be delightful and clean.  As a Christian our words should not be filthy, but rather they should be clean and up lifting and something that others can delight in.  Lastly, our words should be right.  Our words should be encouraging so much so that they are priceless, indescribable.  The right words, spoken at the right time, and with the right motive, can make a tremendous difference in the lives of others.  How are your words?

We had a good time in church this morning; we had a great time of worshipping the Lord in song, in worship and in testimony.  Pastor preached out of Philippians 1:21 on “What Will Your Life Say About You?”  Most people today think of today only, they don’t think and act with tomorrow in mind.  They do what they want to do today, but they don’t think about the consequences of their decision in the future ahead of them.  People buy what they want today because they just have to have it, but 2 months down the road when things go sour they didn’t think or prepare for that when they bought all the things that they just had to have.  Our finances should be in our minds and we should think about our purchases with the future in mind.  The future ought to be in our mind when it comes to the flesh.  People go out and have their night of fun because they want it, not realizing the results that will come in the morning when they wake up.  It’s when they wake up they realize what they have done and they want to go back and change their actions, but it’s too late.  Once the action is done, you cannot go back and undo it.  Always keep the future in mind when it comes to the flesh and the desires and wants of the flesh.  Life is not a fantasy, or a dream, it is real.  People live it as if it’s some kind of dream or fantasy, and they fantasize about everything.  Life truly begins with God steps into your life.  That is the beginning of life.  Christ is the beginning of life.  Life is all about Him seeing He is the One that created everything, and He saved our soul from a devil’s hell when He died on the cross for our sins.  If you are not saved, you’re not ready for the future.  What will be said of you if you were to die today?  Would others know that you were saved, or would they have to say I hope they were saved, or would they say, they were not saved?  Salvation is an important matter.  Are you 100% sure that if you died today you would spend eternity in heaven?

Tonight, Pastor preached on “The Church I Would Want To Be A Part Of” out of I Thessalonians 1:1-10.  A church we should want to be around is one that is lingered in the hearts and minds of God’s men.  We should leave a lasting impression on people and the man of God when they come to our church.  We should desire to make an impression upon the lives of others so that they will not soon forget us.  We ought to life to refresh others, and desire to be refreshed.  A church we should want to be a part of is a church that known for laboring.  A church that labors must work.  If a church is going to do anything for the Lord, it is going to have to labor.  Every aspect of the church has to have someone to labor in that department.  We ought to be busy about the Lord’s word and doing what we can to spread the Gospel out and to do what we can in the church.  We should want to be a part of a church that is a listening church.  Be a church that when a message is preached, the congregation doesn’t just hear it, but it heeds the words that are spoken.  Not everything we hear we will like, but God will help us to accept the message.  He’ll help us to receive it with joy.  We should be a leading church.  A leading church has to have leaders in it.  We should be a leader to other churches that are in the area.  We should be leading in our standards, our dress, in our soul-winning, etc.  We should be known for being different and for taking a stand and for leading in what is right.  Lastly, we should be a looking church, a church that is always looking for the return of Jesus Christ.  The day of His return is nigh and we should be constantly looking for His return.  What kind of church are you a part of?  Is it on that has a lasting impression on others, on that is laboring, one that listens, on that leads, and one that is looking? 

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September 22, 2013

We had some really good services today. We had over 20 visitors this morning, all but 2 rode the bus to church this morning.  We had 6 visitors this evening. We are so thankful for how God is blessing our church and sending the visitors He is sending our way.  We pray that God will work in the lives of those that are coming. 

This morning, the Sunday school lesson was on Matthias out of Acts 1:24-26.  We looked at how Matthias had a desire to be used by God, but his desire was not fulfilled until the death of Judas Iscariot.  We looked at how God has a design, a plan, a blueprint for all of our lives, and they are all different.  In Isaiah 43:7 we looked at how God created us, He formed us, and He made us.  He created us by allowing our conception to take place.  We are not a mistake by God.  We were created for God’s glory and He created us with a purpose.  He formed us by giving us the physical features that we possess.  We look the way we do because that is how God formed us.  He made us just the way we are and we should be happy about the way we look.  Lastly, God made us.  God composed the circumstances in our life.  He has designed (made) a plan for our life and he knows every detail about our life.  He has a great plan in store for us, but do we desire to do God’s will for our lives.  We should desire to do God’s will (plan, blueprint) for our life.  The choice is ours to make.  God will not make us to His will for our life; He gives us a choice in the matter.  We should desire to do God’s will, God’s blueprint for our lives.  Do you desire to do God’s will for your life?  Do you desire to be used by God? God wants to use you.

This morning, Pastor preached out of Acts 8:26-35 on “Missing What You Came For.”  So many times we are all guilty of coming to church and missing out on what God has for us at church.  We get so caught up in just coming to church, or feeling like we have to come to church, that we forget the real reason why we should be in church.  We are all guilty at times of just getting involved in the motion of worship.  We do it because everyone else is doing it.  We are supposed to be there. Too many times we forget the true reason of worship and why we should worship.  There is also the myth of worship.  There is the thought that we can worship any way we want to, but that is not true.  The only true way to worship is to worship in spirit and in truth.  We must be born again, we must life God’s way, in the truth.  Then there is the message of worship.  We should worship in the beauty of His holiness, because God is Almighty.  God is Holy, and we ought to see Him for His beauty in holiness.  Most people miss out on the memories of worship.  Jesus wants you more than you want God.  Jesus wants us to worship Him. We were created to give Him glory, honor, and worship.  Why do you come to church?  We should be coming to church for the right reason, to worship God. 

Tonight, Pastor preached on “Altars Don’t Alter Your Past” out of Gen. 12:10-13:4.  The altar can do a lot of things, but it cannot altar your past.  The altar cannot alter your past in the path that you choose.  Abraham new the lust of the people of Egypt before he ever went to that country.  He knew the kind of people that was there.  Sometimes we choose paths that are wrong and we already know what lies in the path ahead yet we will go down that path.  We will never forget the path that we choose whether it is good or bad.  The altar doesn’t alter out past in the problems we encounter.  When we make a choice against God, it only leads to more problems.  Wrong decisions will be backed up with a lie.  When we learn to tell the truth, God will help us out of our problems.  There will be a price we are going to have to pay.  We will always remember our past and the paths that we take and the problems that we face and encounter.  There is always a price to pay for sin.  The altar doesn’t alter our past and the people we hurt.  We ought to sit down before we make a conscious decision and think of who our decisions will affect and hurt.  Our actions affect people more than we realize and we hurt more people than we will ever know and realize.  When our wrong paths hurt others, it will cause them to not trust us because of our previous actions.  Making the wrong decisions in life will cause us to tell lie after lie after lie and it will hurt people after people after people.  The more we lie, the easier it comes and we don’t care about who we hurt.  There is one thing that the altar can do.  The altar can alter our future.  It can help us to be different from here on out if we truly mean it and are sorry for our past mistakes.  Our future can be different.  Are you traveling down the right path, or the wrong path?  If you are traveling down the wrong path confess and get on the right path.  Let the altar alter the path you are on.

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September 18, 2013

We had a great service tonight.  We had 2 visitors in the service tonight, what a blessing. 

Pastor preached on “Salvation Is More Than One Thing” out of Luke 8:26-35.  Many people today think that salvation is simply just being saved.  Their saved but yet they still think they can drink, and do drugs, and everything else.  But, not according to these verses.  There is more to salvation that just being saved.  If you salvation is just being saved, you might want to check up and make sure you are more than just being saved.  When we get saved everybody else is going to see the difference in our lives.  They will be able to see God in our lives.  There ought to be something about our lives that makes others see Jesus in our lives.  If you are saved, others will see Jesus in your life.  When you get saved, your life will be situated.  Things will become calm in your life because you will realize that God is in your life and in control of everything.  When you get saved, you will become sensitive.  You’ll become sensitive to God and what He wants out of your life.  He became sensitive because his new life was different than his old life.  He no longer was the same person he was before he got saved.  You get saved and you’ll be sensitive about the messages that are preached.  Be sensitive to the leading of God. Be sensitive about how you dress.  Dress to please God not, man.  When you get saved, it will cause you to be sain.  You will start thinking differently and thinking sain. He finally had self-control and knew who he was.  His thinking became plain because God now controlled his mind and his thought pattern.  So there is more to salvation than just being saved.  Are there other things to salvation than these that are mentioned? Yes.  There is more to salvation!!

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September 15, 2013

We had a great crowd of visitors this morning in the morning services.  We had around 20 visitors and we were glad to see each one come this morning.

This morning for Sunday school we looked at Philemon and how he left a testimony of being a man of faith and love toward God and the brethren.  As a Christian we are writing the book of our life.  With each year and with each commitment and with each decision we are writing a chapter in the book of our life.  We have a choice to make; we can live for God, live a carnal life, or live for the devil.  The choice is ours.  We can either be a prayer warrior, or a non-prayer warrior.  No matter the age, we can pray and we can pray for things to happen.  Some of the greatest revivals in the world started when young people began to pray for revival.  So, our age isn’t a problem a prayer life.  We pray because we want to and desire to pray or we don’t pray because we don’t care about a relationship with God and seeing what all He can do with our lives.  We also have the choice to be a Bible scholar, or a non-Bible scholar.  We have the choice to read and study our Bibles.  God doesn’t make us read our Bible and He doesn’t make us not read it either.  If we love the Lord, we will want to read and study His Word to see what He has for our lives.  We also have the choice of being faithful or unfaithful.  God wants us to be a good and faithful servant.  But, we have to choose to be faithful.  In all that we do we need to be faithful.  We also have the choice of a chapter in our life about being spiritual or carnal.  Will we make up our mind to be spiritual, to where God can use us for His honor and His glory?  What kind of chapters are you writing in your book?  What can other write of you if you were to die today?  Hopefully it will be chapter that will bring honor and glory to God.

This morning, Pastor preached out of Isaiah 55:5 on “Looking For The Wrong Things.”  This world spends their time looking for the wrong things in life.  They are looking for something to fill the void in their life, but they look at all the wrong things.  They need to look to the Lord, but instead they look to drugs, alcohol, immoral life style, etc. to try and fill the void in their lives.  Our problems can be fixed is we will only “seek the Lord.”  It’s simple, but we are the ones that confound the simplicity of it.  This world looks for a false life – Psalm 4:2.  They look at a life of lies.  When families seek the Lord, it will be a great house.  But as long as the family seeks for a false life, a life of lies it will never do anything for the Lord.  This world also looks at a false ego – Psalm 10:4.  They don’t seek after Him because they don’t think they need Him.  They think they can handle their problems on their own.  But the truth of the matter is, they need God more than they think or realize.  The wicked don’t think about God, God is not at all in their thoughts.  The world will also look at false riches – Proverbs 21:6.  False riches will cause them to become unstable.  They will toss them to and fro.  Their riches will never satisfy them because it is false riches.  True riches come from God.  May not be monetarily, but the riches that God gives is a lot better than the false riches of this world.  Lastly, the world looks for false relief – Proverbs 23:30.  Liquor, beer, and wine give false relief.  Liquor will and can affect anybody, it doesn’t matter if you go to church or not.  Liquor, beer, or wine makes a person forget about their troubles for a little while, and gives me relief for a short period, but it will NEVER give long lasting relief.  True relief only comes from God and the peace of knowing Him as your personal Lord and Savior.  Are you looking in life at all the wrong places?  If you’ll look to God, you’ll find all the answers that you are looking for.

Tonight Pastor preached on “Waiting, But Never Moving” out of Gen. 19:15-19 and Num. 13:26-33.  How many times do we find ourselves guilty of never moving because things just are right in our life or in the circumstances we are in?  We are all guilty of it from time to time.  If we are waiting on the right circumstances to come along, we will never move in our life spiritually.  Circumstances are something that we cannot control.  So, if we wait for the right circumstances to move, we will never go anywhere.  We will stay in that same spot for the rest of our lives or until we realize we need to move no matter what the circumstances are in our life.  Circumstances will hinder our decisions if we are not careful.  If we wait for the right words to get spoken we will never move either.  If we wait for our Pastor to say just the right words, we will move.  Problem is, the Pastor has probably already said the right words, we just don’t want to listen and heed his words.  For every two right words that are spoken, there will be 10 bad words spoken to keep us from moving spiritually.  More than likely, the right time will never come either.  We just need to move and do when God says so, no matter what is going on in our lives.  If we wait for the right time to be spiritual, or to be the man of the home, or for mom to be the spiritual person their children need; we will be waiting for the rest of our lives.  The right time will never come, we just have to make up our minds to move and be what we need to be for the Lord.  When waiting on the right time, it will NEVER come.  Do it NOW!!!!  Whatever it is God has laid on your heart to do, you need to do it now.  If you move, God will give you the strength, help, and the victory that is needed in your life.  What are you waiting on???

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August 27, 2013

Well, tonight was our last night of Awesome Preaching in August for 2013.  What an awesome month of preaching we have had.  Every message has been wonderful and right on time.  We are so thankful for every preacher that preached this month. 

Tonight we had Bro. Travis Blackwell with us.  Bro. Blackwell preached on “It’s Time To Take A Stand” out of Joshua 3:9-17.  In the Christian life, we cannot take a stand for the Lord until we first walk with the Lord.  Until we walk with the Lord, we will never be able to take a stand for God.  God wants us to stand where others think it is impossible to stand.  In the Christian life we need to take a firm stand.  A stand that is stable and secure.  If we are not stable and secure in our stand we are unstable in everything we do.  To take a firm stand we have to remain focused on the direction we are headed.  Our direction is forward for Christ and that is where our focus should be.  Our focus shouldn’t be behind us or looking at others lives, but we should focus on what’s before us.  We need to focus on our doctrine.  Hold fast to the doctrine that we know.  Don’t let anything slip through our fingers that we need to hold fast to with our doctrine.  We need to focus on our denomination.  We are Independent, Fundamental, Bible-believing Baptists and we should not be ashamed of who we are.  We need to stand and let everyone know where we belong in this world.  We also need to focus on our dress.  We need to keep dressing modest and dress the way the Lord would have us to dress.  Don’t detour from what we know to be right and God honoring.  We also need to take a faithful stand.  We need to endure to the end of our lives in the stand that we are taking now.  If we don’t keep standing for what is right, what will happen to our families, our churches, our children?  The generation behind us is watching us.  Are they seeing us take a faithful stand, a stand that will last no matter what battle comes our way?  God expects us to be faithful in our stand, and because God expects it, we need to honor it and be faithful in our stand.  If we stand firm and faithful, we will have a fruitful stand.  God will give us some memorials to look at in our life for taking a stand.  We can look at those memorials and say if God did it then, He will do it again.  It will help us to keep going and to keep taking a stand.  God’s memorials are testimonials.  If we take a stand we will have some memorials set up in our lives.  God will give us memorials that we can see, but also, some that others can see.  We can take a stand because God has given us the authority to stand and has given us the equipment that we need to take a stand.  In Ephesians 6:10-17 is where we find our authority to stand and our equipment to stand.  We don’t have to fall; we don’t have to mess up.  If we will put on the whole armor of God every day, we will be able to stand, and we will not fall.  Are you standing tonight?

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August 25, 2013

What a great day we had today.  We had 16 to ride the church bus this morning with 2 driving in that their kid rides the church bus.  What a privilege it is to be able to minister to these kids and to present the Gospel message to them as they come to church.

This morning’s Sunday School lesson was on Sosthenes and how he was a burden bearer for Paul.  We don’t know much about Sosthenes but we do know that the Apostle Paul called him a brother (so that meant he was saved) and that he took a beating where the Apostle Paul could have been beaten.  Sosthenes bore the burden of being beaten for Paul.  As Christians we need people in our lives that are burden bearers.  We need people we can go to and ask them to pray for us about the matter that is on our heart.  Some burdens we can bear alone but other burdens we cannot bear alone and we need others to help us bear those burdens.  But, if we do not have any friends we cannot unload our burdens on anyone.  That is why it is so important for us to have friends; friends that can help us bear our burdens and help us along life’s journey.  Sosthenes was important to Paul, and our friends should be important to us as well.  We will finish our lesson next week and see how we can be a burden bearer for our friends. 

This morning, Pastor preached the second part to his sermons series on “Fighting For Our Families” out of Nehemiah 4.  The second part of the sermon was “We Are Going To Have To Fight Ourselves”.  Our biggest enemy in this life is not those around us, but it is ourselves.  Sometimes the problems we face within ourselves are insurmountable.  Our problems can get bigger and bigger and sometimes the problems we face in ourselves are big enough.  If we sit and think about it, night time is when we see our problems the most.  Why? Because we lie there and think about our problems and the more we think about them the bigger they can become in our lives.  We must realize that our problems will not be fixed in one day.  It will take a lot of time to fix some of the problems that we face within ourselves.  We also have to get over the fact that others are telling us that they are right.  The devil tells us over and over again that we can’t do something.  But, our God is bigger than the devil and with God on our side we can do anything.  We can’t let what others say about what we are trying to do for the Lord hinder us from doing anything from the Lord.  Sometimes we look at our lives and say that the mess is too big for us.  There is no way we can fix the mess that we have in our lives.  Problems don’t just come up overnight usually and they will not go away over night.  It all takes time.  Just fix things piece by piece by piece until the problems are fixed.  Nehemiah didn’t fix the wall in one night.  It was done piece by piece over a period of time.  We are not alone though; there are others that are facing problems just like we are.  There are others who have fixed problems that we are going through now.  We need to look at them and learn from their lives so that we can fix the problems in our own lives.  If we start building in our lives, God will help us.  He already knows what we need to build, and He will give us the material that we need to fix the problems in our lives.  We just have to have a mindset to build and have a heart to build in our lives.

Tonight, Pastor preached out of 2 Chronicles 14 on “You Better Be Prepared”.  To prepare ourselves, we have got to build.  We have to build bars to protect ourselves and our families.  We need to put standards up in our lives.  If we don’t put bars in our lives we will let our standards drop and let our beliefs drop.  The devil knows what will turn our head, and he’ll use it against us.  He’ll use that to distract us and to keep us from building in our lives spiritually.  The bars are used to protect us from the world and it will intimidate the world on the outside.  We should never quit building in our lives spiritually.  We should always have a plan for improvement because we all need improvement every day of our lives.  Another way to prepare is to prepare for battle.  Most people today get out of church because they were not prepared spiritually for the battle they were facing.  If we prepare ourselves we will be able to face the battle that is raging in our lives.  We should always be ready for a battle because we never know when the battle will take place.  If we are always prepared it will never take us by surprise.  We should also be prepared for heart breaks.  In the Christian walk and life we will have to distance ourselves from people and that will break our hearts.  Some people will detour from the faith and when that happens it breaks our heart and in the breaking of our heart, we have to leave them alone because if we stay friends with them, they will eventually pull us down spiritually.  No matter how much our heart hearts, we have to do what is right for us so that we won’t fall as well.  Lastly, we must be prepared for bypasses.  The devil will put paths in our way that may look right, but in the end they are for destruction.  We must be careful with the paths that we take, because just because they look good, doesn’t mean that is the road the Lord wants us to take.  If we take the path the devil has for us, it will cause us to deviate and we will end up falling by the wayside.  We shouldn’t let anything detour us from the plan of God for our lives.  Stick with the plan that God has for us until the day we die.  Are you prepared?

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August 20, 2013

We have truly heard some Awesome Preaching in August.  Every week we have heard some awesome preaching, and we have heard some messages that we really need.

Tonight we had Bro. Kevin Rogerson with us.  He preached on “The Significance Of Small Things” out of I Kings 18:1,41-46. The little things in life should be important to us because if we take notice of the little things in life will become bigger and greater things.  God uses little things to get our attention.  We don’t need to dismiss the little things.  One word can make a difference in a service, or in a person’s life.  God used little people, little places and little possessions throughout the Bible to do great and might things.  We don’t need to discourage little things. We also need to be careful of the dangers of little things.  One carnal Christian can destroy a person or a church.  But, one real, spiritual person can change a person or church for the better and for the glory of God. A little leaven can and will leaven the whole lump.  If the little thing is bad, we need to get away from it.  There can be delight in little things.  We can be encouraged by the little things in life that happen to us.  Elijah saw greatness because he prayed and was a man of prayer.  His prayer life was built on faith.  He believed even when he could see nothing. That is how our life should be, lived by faith not by sight.  Elijah prayed faithfully in spite of his flesh and in spite of failure and in spite of fatigue.  Nothing kept Elijah from praying.  His praying didn’t stop because he was tired, he still prayed.  He also had the right focus in prayer.  He saw the little cloud and knew that it was God that brought the little cloud.  He had the right perception and the right expectation.  In prayer we should be the same way.  We should be looking for God to show up any time.  When we resist the little things, we will never get to see the greater things that God has in store for our lives.  Little is better than nothing.  We can have the same things as Elijah, we just have to have the faith, the prayer life, and the power that Elijah had.  We can have all of that.  How do you take the little things in life?  We need to take notice of the little things in life.  The little things is what will lead to bigger things.  Don’t overlook the small things!

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August 18, 2013

What a day we had in the Lord’s house today.  The Lord really helped us today.  We are thankful for the help we were given from the messages that were preached today.  We had a missionary family with us this morning, Bro. Tim and Sis. Rebecca Lewis, missionaries to Papua New Guinea.  Also this morning we had Bro. J.E. Glass with us.

This morning for Sunday School Bro. Lewis presented his ministry and his burden to us for the people of Papua New Guinea.  Afterwards he preached a short message from I John 1:1-4 on “The Life That’s Real”.  People that are real are something that is lacking in churches all across the world today.  We are all putting on a facade and making people think we are something when we are not.  If we lived a life that is real, it will impact the world for the Lord.  A life that is real is a life that is revealed.  Jesus Christ will be revealed to us and our lives will be changed in drastic ways because we will see Him in a way we have never seen Him before.  Also, Jesus Christ should be revealed to the world through our lives.  A life that’s real is also experienced.  It is experienced in seeing the promises of God come through in our lives.  Sadly today we don’t truly trust God with our lives and our circumstances.  We try to take things into our own hands instead of putting them and leaving them in the hands of the Lord.  A life that is real will also be shared.  We need to be telling other about Jesus and what He has done for our lives and what He can do in their lives.  If He is real with us, we’ll be willing to share it with others.  How is your spiritual life?  If is real, or is it a fake?

This morning, Bro. J.E. Glass preached for us in the morning service hour.  He preached out of John 14:1-6 on “In My Father’s House”.  One day we will move into our mansion that God has prepared for us in heaven.  In my Father’s house there is peace and rest.  The war will be over for us spiritually.  We will no longer have to fight the devil, the world, or our flesh.  In my Father’s house there is going to be a big supper, the marriage supper of the Lamb.  It will be a feast for us to enjoy and we will be sitting at the Lord’s table.  There is shouting going on in heaven and it is for those that are getting saved.  The Lamb’s Book of Life will be in heaven, and if we are saved, our name is written there.  We will get to see our name written there.  But most of all, Jesus will be there.  The One that we have longed to see and to praise and to thank for all that He has done for us.  We will get to see Him and all the beauty that He beholds.  In my Father’s house, there are some things that will not be there.  There will be no more curse, the curse of sin on our lives.  It will be gone forever.  There will be no more sickness, no more pain, and no more death.  There will be no more sea, no more separation from God and no more storms to have to face in this life.  There will be no more sorrow for we will all be together again.  There will be no sin and no lost sinners will be there.  Are you saved?  Will you be going to heaven when you die? 

Tonight, Pastor started a sermon on “It Still Works” out of I Kings 15:11.  Asa wanted to be like his father David because it worked for David in his life.  Yes David had his flaws but he was real and tried to live a life that was pleasing to the Lord.  Salvation still works today.  It still changes lives.  People are still getting saved today.  No, the numbers may not be as high as they used to, but there are still sinners getting saved and having their lives changed by the power of God.  Soul-winning still works.  People are still getting saved on soul-winning and people are still coming to church after being invited on church soul-winning visitation.  Spirituality still works as well.  We have no excuse for not being spiritual in our churches today.  We make excuses though for our carnality and blame it on others because of what they do or they don’t do.  Our personal spirituality depends upon ourselves, but upon anyone else.  We should not base our spirituality on what someone else isn’t doing.  Just because someone else isn’t reading their Bible or praying doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t.  Our spirituality won’t go any farther if it’s depending on what someone is doing.  We need to get our eyes of everyone else, and get our eyes on ourselves.  We need to be spiritual because that is what God wants and then God will be able to use us and do things in our lives and through our lives.  Yes, Christianity still works today!

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August 13, 2013

Wow, what a sermon we heard tonight from Bro. David Reed.  He preached an excellent and timely message tonight.  Bro. Reed preached on “The Devil Wants Your Vineyard” out of I Kings 21:1-3.  Ahab can be a picture of the devil in this portion of Scripture, and the vineyard can be a picture of the local church.  The devil wants our vineyard.  If we are not careful we will make a deal with the devil and not even know it.  The devil is so sly and crooked that we have to be very careful.  He doesn’t care about our vineyard; he just cares about destroying the vineyard.  He doesn’t have to tear the church building down to destroy the church, all he has to do is get the church to compromise and he has destroyed the church.  Some people don’t go to church today because it’s inconvenient.  When that happens, they are handing over the title to the deed on their vineyard.  The vineyard is important and everyone needs to be there.  We use to plan our week around church, now we plan church around our week.  That is where we have gone wrong.  The church is no longer important to us and we consider it an inconvenience instead.  We should not give up our church to the devil because it would dishonor God and our family.  The church was given to us by God and established by God.  The church should be a gathering place for the saints to worship, a growing place where we grow in the Lord and fruit is produced, and it should be a gleaning place where others can get help in their time of need.  We cannot give our church to the devil because of our Father.  God has been too good to us for us to hand over the church to the devil.  We can’t get rid of it because of our family.  The church is the place where we as a family can get help from God.  If we get rid of the church, where will we go to get help?  For the sake of the fallen, we cannot hand over the title to the church to the devil.  The church is the place where those that are hurting and have fallen to get help.  For the sake of our foes, we cannot get rid of the church.  We need to take a stand and fight for our church.  Our church is worth fighting for.  Are you willing to fight for your church?  The church needs YOU!!!!!

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August 11, 2013

We had a very good day today in God’s house.  We had quite a few visitors today with 2 first time visitors this morning. 

The Sunday school lesson this morning was on James and how that although he was mentioned first by the Lord, he became second. James wasn’t the one that wrote 5 books of the Bible nor do we ever hear him preach a sermon.  But, the Lord thought a lot of James and included him in His inner circle.  James got to see the same things that John did.  God wants us to be second in life.  It should always be about us being first and being seen in the Christian realm.  But it is about us doing what God wants us to do with our lives.  We don’t need to be concerned with what someone else is doing with their life for the Lord; we need to be concerned about what we are doing for the Lord.  Are we doing God’s will for our lives?  If we are doing God’s will for our life that is all that matters.  If we want to be second place and allow others to be first, we have to make that a choice.  Naturally we always want to be first and be seen, but that’s not what God wants for us.  To be second we have to make that a choice in our lives.  There must also be humility.  Living life in the second requires us to live a life of humility.  Pride will keep us from taking second place and it will keep us from putting others first in our lives.  Being second place also takes patience.  God may one day put us first and put us in the lime light, but until then, we need to be content and just do what God has for us now.  Be patient with God’s timing and He’ll promote us when we are ready and if that is His will for our lives.  We also need to be content with what God’s will is for our life.  We may not be the person that stands out in the crowd, we may always be the second person, but if that is what God wants for our lives, we need to be content with doing what God wants us to do for Him.  Are you putting others first, or do you want to always be seen?  It’s not about being seen, it’s about doing God’s will for our lives and putting others first.

This morning, Pastor started a series of sermons on “Fighting For Our Families” out of Nehemiah 4:13-14.  If we do not fight for our families, nobody else is going to do it. Our families are important and they are worth fighting for.  The adversary against the home that we need to learn about is the devil.  The devil is the person we are fighting against in the battle for the home.  The devil is always walking about, he never sits down, and he is always at work trying to devise a plan to destroy a home.  The attacks that the devil puts on the home are usually unseen.  When we just simply talk about doing something for God, we better watch out because we are stirring up the enemy.  Just because things are peaceful in the home doesn’t mean that the devil is not at work.  We always got to be watching and ready for his attack.  He is always devising a plan of attack on the home.  He knows our weaknesses and he will capitalize on them and that is where he will attack.  We have got to keep out guard up at all times.  He will do his best to take our praise out of our mouths.  If he can keep us from talking about the goodness of God and keep us from praising our Lord, he is attacking us and defeating us.  God deserves our praise and we should not let anybody or anything keep us from praising the Lord with our lips.  The fight is on for our families and we need to ready to fight the devil.  If he can destroy the home he will destroy the church as well.  The home is important.  Are you fighting for your family and for the other families in your church?  We need some families who will fight for what is right.  Will you fight?

Tonight we had Bro. Roger Tooley and his family with us.  They are missionaries to England and we support them monthly.  Bro. Tooley preached for us tonight.  He preached on “Hell” out of Matthew 10:28 and 2 Corinthians 5:11.  Hell is a real place, a place where there is weeping, whaling, and gnashing of teeth.  It is a place of eternal torment in flames.  Hell today though is taken lightly in many churches and is not even preached about.  Preachers no longer preach on Hell from the pulpit anymore because they are afraid of offending someone.  It is better to offend someone here on earth about their soul and where they will spend eternity than to get to the judgment seat and their blood is on our hands because we did not warn them about Hell.  The church members of today have lost their burden for lost souls.  We need to get our burden back about lost souls and the place called Hell.  If we don’t warn them, no one else will.  It is up to us to get a vision of this lost world and do our best to win them to the Lord so that they don’t spend eternity in Hell.  Roughly 60% of this world has never once heard a clear presentation of the Gospel in their language.  Where is our burden to read a lost and dying world?  When was the last time we told someone about the Lord?  Hell is real and we need to get that vision and that burden in our hearts and do our best to reach this world.  Their only hope lies in the answers that we have.  Tell someone about the Lord this week.

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August 07, 2013

My, my, my, what a way to start off Awesome Preaching in August.  Bro. Hensley has preached his heart out, and preached 3 wonderful messages this week.  He preached exactly what we stood in need of that is for sure.

Tonight, Bro. Hensley preached on “You Can Make It” out of Jude 1-3.  Anybody can be a quitter, but it takes someone with guts, endurance, and strength to make it to the end.  It’s sad but true, we hear more about those that have quit in the Christian realm than we do about those that have stuck with it and are staying with the stuff.  We can make it, we just have to stick in there and stick on it like we are glued to it.  We can make it because the Savior is there to help us.  He will never leave us nor forsake us and will always be by our side no matter what happens and no matter what comes our way.  When the devil throws an obstacle or problem our way, God will always be there to help clear the obstacle or problem out of the way.  He’ll always be there when troubles press upon us.  When troubles come our way He is there to help us through it and to ease the load.  When we go through times of tribulation, God will always be there.  He’ll give us the strength we need to bear the tribulation that we are going through. During our times of testing, God will be with us and help us.  When it seems like trusting God is hopeless, God will help us.  He’ll help us trust Him with His will for our lives and for what He wants to do in our lives.  Living by faith is not easy because our eyes like to see what we are fixing to do, but if we lean on the Lord and let Him guide us, we will be able to trust Him.  We should never give up though it may seem hopeless and impossible.  Believe Him and His Word.  We can make it because the Spirit will guide us.  The Spirit of God will never lead us wrong, but will always lead us to the truth.  The Spirit of God will give us the grace that we need for each day.  God knows exactly how much grace we need for the day and will give us that much grace throughout the day.  He will dip His bucket into His grace and just pour it on us as we need it.  The Spirit will also give guidance when wanted.  If we don’t want guidance from the Spirit of God, He will not guide us.  The Spirit will guide us when we ask for His guidance in our lives.  We need to seek His guidance in everything that we do.  He lives in us and we need to seek His guidance.  Lastly, we can make it because the saints will pray for us.  It’s encouraging to know that there are people of God that are praying for us.  We need to thank God for the people of God who pray for us.  Because of their prayers, we can make it.  They may pray for us not know what is going on in our lives and they may be the one that keeps us going and not giving up.  The prayers of the people of God are important to us and we don’t need to take it lightly.  You can make it.  Don’t let the devil tell you that you can’t, because you can.  Others have made it and so can you! Don’t quit!!!!!

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August 06, 2013

Wow, what a message preached by Bro. Hensley tonight.  He preached an excellent message tonight.  The message tonight really cannot be blogged so only the points will be given from tonight’s message.  But the points themselves are enough to help anybody that reads the blog tonight. 

Bro. Hensley preached on “I’d Do It All Over Again” out of Philippians 3:1-14.  His introduction included points about things that he would not change:

I.  He wouldn’t change his companion (who he was married to)

II.   He wouldn’t change his calling

III.   He wouldn’t change his compassion (for a lost and dying world and his excitement over a sinner getting saved).

IV.   Wouldn’t change his convictions

V.   Wouldn’t change his children

VI.   Wouldn’t change his churches

VII.   Wouldn’t change his company (the people he was around in church)

The message part of his sermon was why he would do it all over again:

I. Because salvation is real.

II. Because the grace of God was sufficient enough for every day.

III. Because God always answers prayer.

IV. Because God has blessed me in so many ways.

V. Because of the place of worship

VI. Because he had a good family

VII. Because there was the promise of a better place

VIII. Because he knew that God loved him.

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August 05, 2013

AWESOME PREACHING IN AUGUST is here and it started off with a bang.  We started off this year with a 3 days meeting with Bro. Harry Hensley.  He preached for us tonight and will preach tomorrow night and Wednesday night as well.  We are looking forward to tomorrow night and all that God has in store for our lives.

Bro. Hensley preached tonight on “Life’s Warnings” out of Ezekiel 3:17-19.  Life is full of warnings from God about things that we shouldn’t do as a Christian.  God gives us those warnings to keep us from making mistakes and from ruining our lives.  We need to heed the warning signs that God puts in our lives. The preaching of the Word of God is on the warning signs that God puts in our lives to warn us of future dangers that are coming our way.  God gives our man of God messages to preach from the Word of God to warn us.  Preaching is what is going to get the job done.  The power of the Spirit is another warning sign.  When we do wrong or are fixing to do wrong, if we are saved; the Holy Spirit that lives inside of us will be a still small voice telling us not to do what we are fixing to do.  If there is nothing on the inside telling us we are doing wrong, then something is wrong spiritually if we are even saved.  But the Holy Spirit lives in the inside of us that are saved and lets us know when we are doing wrong.  It is the convicting power of God that keeps us from making mistakes with our lives.  God also uses the people of God to help warn us of upcoming dangers.  We can look at the lives of others and see their lives and where they went wrong and we learn from them to avoid that area in our lives.  Also, some people are given spiritual discernment about things.  Our lives will influence others more than we think it is.  We need to look out for each other spiritually and help others along that may be fighting, or headed for danger.  We need to encourage each other.  The place of the sanctuary is another warning light from God.  It is a warning sign to this lost and dying world.  They see the House of God and they know there is warning about future judgment from God.  Lastly, the promise of His return is a warning.  We should be living each day as it is our last and try to live it the best that we can for Him.  He is coming back again someday.  Will He find us living for Him, or will He find us faltering and falling.  God makes a way of escape for us.  Are you heading the way of escape?  Are you heeding the warning signs that God is putting out for your life?

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August 04, 2013

We had a great day in the house of the Lord today.  We had 14 visitors with 8 of them riding the bus this morning and 2 of them being first time visitors on the bus. 

The Sunday School lesson this morning was on Tychicus and how he was known in the Scriptures by the people he kept company with.  He kept company with the Apostle Paul and was a great help to him, and Tychicus was a great person because he kept company with Paul and allowed Paul to influence his life for the things that are right.  We looked at the people who we are not to keep company with out of I Cor. 5:11.  We are told in the Bible not to keep company with a brother that is a fornicator (a man and woman that gets involved physically before marriage), a covetous person (one who always wants what everyone else has), an idolater (one who worships a false god and one who puts God second in their life), a railer (a person who uses harsh, hurtful, hateful language to others), a drunkard (drunken, intoxicated), and an extortioner (robber).  If we know of someone that has these character traits about them, we do not keep to keep company with them.  We need to leave them alone and find someone that we can keep company with who loves the Lord and wants to live for Him.  We should keep company with someone who is following Christ and living for Him.  The Bible says that a little leaven will leaven the whole lump.  If we hang around the wrong person they will influence us in the wrong way.  They will do it little by little till we are fully engaged in things we at first had no desire to do.  But, if we hang around the godly crowd they will influence us in the right way as well.  They will do it little by little and we will be able to see the change and growth in our lives spiritually.  Who you hang around with is who you will become.  You are known by the company you keep.

This morning’s sermon from Pastor was on “Are You Listening?” from Matthew 7:21-27 and Luke 6:46-49.   When Jesus lived on earth He preached some of the simplest yet convicting messages known to mankind.  Today preachers try to preach messages that are very profound and no one can understand them.  But, the simplest messages are the messages that get the job done.  In these passages of Scripture, both men heard the same message but they both did something totally different with the message that they heard.  In a congregation we all hear the same message, but everyone does something different with the message that they hear.  Some actually listen and apply the message to their heart and lives.  Some hear it and think on it for a little while but it never makes any lasting impression on their lives.  Others hear it and let it go in one ear and out the other.  A wise man will listen to the messages that are preached and apply them to their lives and let the messages change them.  They will dig deep in their lives to get whatever is keeping them from building a right life and keeping them from getting closer to the Lord.  Because they listened to the preaching of God’s Word and built a right life with a solid foundation, when the storms of life came, they didn’t move them.  They stood strong through the storms of life.  But on the other hand, a foolish person will hear the messages being preached and let them go in one ear and out the other.  They don’t take heed to the messages that are preached and build their lives and foundation the way that they want to.  Their foundation is unstable as water.  When the storms of life come their way, it doesn’t take much to cause them to fall spiritually.  The only outcome from the foolish man is failure.  Everything he does fail.  Are you listening to the messages you hear from your pastor every service?  Do you apply the message to your life so that you can become a better Christian and grow in the Lord spiritually?  Are you the wise builder or the foolish builder?

Tonight Pastor preached on the home out of Ephesians 5:28-29 and Genesis 2:22-25 on “Respect In Marriage”.  In the home, respect is earned, not demanded.  If a spouse demands respect from their mate they will never get the respect that is right in the home.  A husband should give his wife a reason to respect him, and the wife should give her husband a reason to respect her.  In the home, there should be some family respect.  There needs to be some respect shown for the in-laws in the marriage.  No they may not have the same standards, convictions, or beliefs, but there should still be respect for the in-laws because they are your husband’s or your wife’s parents.  Husbands need to respect the emotions of their wives.  Women are emotional people and husbands need to understand that and respect that.  God made them like they are and so the husband should learn his wife in the area of her emotional state.  There also needs to be respect in the home concerning what is said with the mouth.  This goes for both the husband and the wife.  Don’t run each other down over every little thing.  Instead, lift each other up with the words that are spoken.  Encourage one another on a daily basis.  Husbands, also respect your wife’s endurance and wives, respect your husband’s endurance.  If you see each other doing too much, make them sit down and slow down for a little while.  The other can get too busy and not realize just how busy they have become and you need to step in and tell them they need to stop.  Don’t let each other run themselves to death.  Respect should also be shown in their preferences.  Learn what they like and what they don’t like.  Learn them so you can either avoid them, or use them to help be a blessing to them when they are struggling and having a hard time.  Also, respect needs to be shown in her spirituality.  The husband should be more spiritual than the wife.  If the wife is more spiritual than the husband there is something wrong in the home.  The husband is to be the leader of the home not the wife.  Husbands, if you’ll be godly, your wife will become godly as well.  Husbands, give your wife a reason to follow you spiritually.  Spiritual growth is not always fast, but it should always be slow and steady.  There needs to be respect in homes today.  Your children are looking at your marriage.  Do they want a marriage like yours? If you have the right respect in the home, they will want a marriage like yours.

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July 28, 2013

We had some very good services today.  The Lord brought in 12 visitors this morning with 9 of them riding on the bus this morning.  We were delighted that 4 of the bus kids returned this evening for the evening service.  Please help us pray for the bus ministry and for those that ride on the bus.  Pray that we will be able to reach them for the Lord. 

This morning for Sunday school we learned about Aquilla and how he had a helpmeet for a wife.  His wife was everything that he needs to help him in the ministry that God had called for him to do.  We took a look this morning at how we ought to prepare ourselves and how to look for the mate that God has for our lives.  If we want to find the right mate for our lives we need to pray for the one that God has for our lives.  Pray that God will make them everything that we need and would like to have for a mate.  We also need to be one worthy of marriage.  We need to possess the right attitude and also have a love for the Lord and for the things of God.  We need to keep ourselves pure for the one that we are to marry.  Then we need to wait on God to bring us to the right one that we are to marry.  When we are ready and our mate is ready for marriage, God will bring us together in His timing.  We just need to be patient and wait on His timing.  If we rush into things we may fall into the devils trap and get with the wrong person.  We also need to guard our heart.  We don’t need to let ourselves get to where we cannot see the other person and who they really are.  We need to be on guard at all times.  Then we need to accept reproof about anything.  If we are told that we need to stop dating a person or to not date a person or to hold off for a little while, we need to listen to the guidance of those that have spoken to us.  They are wiser and they can see things that maybe we cannot see so we need to listen and take heed to any reproof that is give to us.  We need to have a daily walk with God.  We need to daily read our Bibles and pray so that we can know when we have found the mate that God has created just for us.  When considering who we date/marry, we need to find someone that has the same standards as we do.  Find someone that has the same beliefs and standards as we do.  We also need to be open about who we like or want to date.  We need to tell our parents or tell our pastor about this and seek counsel from them and see what they have to say about the matter.  Then, we need to remember that God always knows what is best for us and will give us the best.  God knows exactly who it is that we need to marry, we just need to wait on Him, and listen to His voice.  Lastly, we need to check and see if the person we are dating is helping us grow in the Lord.  If they are not helping us grow in the Lord we need to stop dating that person.  Our mate should be one that helps us grow in the Lord.  Choosing your mate is the second most important decision in your life.  Make the choice carefully, and make it right. 

This morning, Pastor preached out of Mark 8:34-38 on “Follow Me”.  Following the Lord is not something that has ever been popular and it will never be popular.  Although we would like for it to be popular and have many that follow the Lord, it will never happen. There will always be a remnant that will follow the Lord.  When we follow the Lord, it has to be personal.  Someone else cannot follow for us, we have to follow the Lord for ourselves.  Following the Lord is not always easy and it’s not fun.  Following the Lord will involve some suffering in our lives.  At times when we are walking with the Lord it feels embarrassing to the flesh and we feel alone.  But we have to remember we are not alone and that God will always be there with us.  There will be many that will watch us follow the Lord, and some will join in the line, but many will not.  Following the Lord is also practical.  If we are not denying ourselves anything, we are not truly following the Lord.  To follow the Lord means we are going to have to deny ourselves some things in this life.  We will have to live a spiritual life and that means there are things that we will have to get out of our lives so that we can follow the Lord as we should.  Today more people are interested in getting their physical man in shape than they are in getting their spiritual man in shape.  If we are going to follow the Lord, there has to be some dedication.  We will have to dedicate ourselves and make sure that we do it on a day to day basis.  It will have to become a priority in our lives to follow the Lord.  Are you following the Lord today? 

Tonight, Pastor preached out of I Corinthians 6:12-20 on “Flee Fornication”.  Fornication is the only sin in the Bible that is mentioned that is a sin against our own body.  Fornication is a tattoo on our body that can NEVER be erased.  If we open up this door in our lives, it will start a fire inside of us that will never go out. Fornication is the life of a non-Christian.  Fornication is not the practice of a believer.  If a person is continually practicing in fornication, it can be marked that they have never been saved.  The act that takes place in the marriage bed out of place is never right.  Fornication has no character.  It is as if they are acting like an animal.  They don’t care who they are with and who they hurt because there is no commitment.  They are not considerate of others and who they go after.  They enjoy the sin of fornication, but they do not want to pay the price tag that fornication has on it.  Fornication is also careless.  It will rob the virginity of any young boy or girl.  It doesn’t matter who they are just as long as they can destroy a life it doesn’t matter.  They only care about themselves and getting what they want.  Then they move on to their next victim.  Fornication is a nightmare that cannot be forgotten about.  It will haunt a person till the day they die.  It will destroy their life forever.  But, fornication can be avoided.  It can be avoided if we don’t tempt ourselves.  Don’t get alone with a person of the opposite gender at any time in our life.  We don’t need to be touching one another either or kissing one another.  One thing will lead to another if we are not careful.  Set rules in your children’s lives and in your own life to keep you from falling into the sin of fornication.  Fornication is something that single people need to be careful with and always be on the watch for.  Guard yourselves so that you keep yourself pure until the day you get married.  The devil would love for nothing more than to mess your life up with fornication.  Don’t let him have that chance with your life. Stay close to God and let Him help you stay pure until the day you get married. 

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July 24, 2013

We had a great service tonight. We had two preachers tonight.  Bro. Adam Hewett preached first, and then Pastor preached afterwards.

Bro. Adam Hewett preached on “Living In A Day When Common Things Are Uncommon” out of Matthew 7:21-23.  True repentance is something that is uncommon in a lot of churches today.  People repent but they plan to go ahead and do the same exact thing the next day which is not true repentance.  Most churches don’t have a true prayer power either.  There is a lack of prayer power in the churches in America today.  We need to be serious when it comes to prayer because God thinks prayer is important.  We don’t need to play around with prayer, but let it become true in our lives.  We also need to be serious about our testimony.  We need to have a godly testimony to those in the church, and also to those that we see each and every day of our lives.  They ought to know there is something different about us.  We need to get back to the old time ways where the common things are still common. 

Pastor preached out of Genesis 5:21-24 on “Walking With God Before You Walk With God.”  To walk with God, it means that we must have the same direction.  We must be going in the same direction that God is walking.  There has to be a relationship with God to know which direction we need to be going.  When we are walking with God in the same direction, there is a nearness and closeness to God.  When we walk with God we will be concerned out our testimony (Heb. 11:5).  Our testimony is important and we should make it important in our lives.  Our testimony should be pleasing in the sight of God.  In Jude 14-15 we see that we need to be concerned about the Lord’s judgment and His second coming if we are going to have a walk with God.  As Enoch, we need to have a reverential fear of God.  Sadly though, in today’s economy, there is a lack of reverential fear of God.  We either live our lives with little to no fear of God.  Lastly in Gen. 6:8-9 we see that when we walk with God we will leave a legacy behind for our family.  Everybody in the lineage of Enoch heard about the testimony of Enoch and how he walked with God, yet they disregarded the testimony and lived their own lives.  That is, until Noah came along.  Noah is the great-grandson of Enoch.  Just as Enoch walked with God, Noah made up his mind to have the same kind of walk with God that Enoch had.  We need to walk with God so that our children, and our children’s children and so forth will have an example of someone to look to as someone who walked with God.  Somebody is watching our lives, what do they see?  Do they see someone that is walking with God? 

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July 21, 2013

We had another wonderful day and time in the house of the Lord.  We had a total of 24 visitors this morning with 21 coming on the bus.  What a crowd that was, but we are thankful for each person that came on the bus this morning.  We had 6 of the bus kids come back for tonight’s service and we were again thankful that they came back and joined us in the service tonight. 

This morning for Sunday school we looked at Gaius and how that he had a great testimony for the Lord.  As we live our lives we are making a testimony for ourselves whether we realize it or not.  Gaius gave the testimony that he was saved and that he loved the Lord.  His testimony showed that he loved the brethren.  As a Christian we should love each other as we are brothers and sisters in Christ.  No matter who our brothers and sisters are in Christ, we should love them all the same.  Another testimony that was given about the life of Gaius is that he was a spiritual Christian.  As a Christian we can either be carnal or we can be spiritual.  We cannot be both, but we are one or the other.  If we feed the spiritual man we will be spiritual, but if we feed the carnal man we will be carnal.  Gaius fed his spiritual man and therefore he was a spiritual person.  It was also testified of Gaius that he lived a life of truth.  When he spoke others knew that he was speaking the truth.  We ought to have the same testimony that when we speak we speak the truth and not a lie.  Also, we should walk in truth as Gaius did.  We need to speak the truth, but we also need to live the truth.  If we say we are a Christian, our actions out to back up what we are saying.  We also need to be faithful in all that we do.  Whether it’s coming to church, reading our Bible, praying, going on church visitation, going on bus visitation, going to the nursing home; whatever we do, we need to be faithful.  Others ought to count on us to get the job done and to be there when we are supposed to be there.  We should have the testimony that we love the world.  We need to love the sinner, but hate the sin they are in.  No matter what sin a person is in, we should still love them.  Christ died for them just as much as He died for us.  Lastly, we need to go forward.  We don’t need to go backward or to the left or to the right, but we need to go forward for Christ.  Don’t look behind us to see what everyone else is doing.  We need to concentrate on our own race and keep looking forward, looking for the finish line.  What kind of testimony do you have?  Does your testimony reflect that you are saved?  If you were to be tried in a court of law for being a Christian, would they be able to find you guilty?

This morning, Pastor preached out of Ruth 1:14-18 and Ruth 2:1-3 on “It Happened Like This.”  Ruth found a new direction for her life when she left the city of Moab and went to live in the city of Bethlehem with Naomi.  She realized the direction her life was headed wasn’t the right direction and she wanted a new direction for her life.  She no longer wanted to live the life that she was living in Moab.  She allowed God to change the direction of her life.  She also changed her dwelling place; she was going to live in a different country now.  She never went back to Moab, but lived the rest of her life in Bethlehem.  Her life was empty in the life of Moab, but when she came to Bethlehem, her life became full.  Ruth also changed her dedication.  She totally changed families and took Naomi’s family as her own.  Naomi’s family now included Ruth in the family.  Ruth also changed God’s.  In Moab she served gods, but she wanted to live for the one true God that no doubt Naomi told her about.  The God of Bethlehem is the God she wanted to serve and live for.  Ruth also changed her destination.  She had Bethlehem in her sight, which was her new destination.  When Ruth left Moab her life changed and everything about her was different because she met God.  Have you ever been changed by God?  Has there ever been a different in your life?  If you have been saved, there should have been a difference in your life.

Tonight, Pastor preached out of Luke 5:1-6 and Psalm 107:23-32 on “Launch Out Into The Deep”.  When launching out into the deep, the territory is different, unfamiliar, unknown, and there is the possibility of no return.  But in the deep, there is business that is done.  There is a great cost personally and to our pride.  There is also a great work that is done in the deep.  We have never been there before, but there is work to be done.  We have to put our hands to the plow and work for the cause of Christ.  There are benefits in deep waters.  We will be able to see the work of the Lord on our lives and the lives of others.  Going to the deep water is not always fun, but it is rewarding in the end because we see the power of God, the work of God, and the wonders of God.  Those wonders are the things that are impossible to man, but not impossible to God.  The benefits of launching out into the deep outweigh the fears of why we shouldn’t go out into the deep waters.  In the deep waters, there are a lot of billows (storms) that will come up.  We cannot control the billows that we face, but we know Who holds the billows in His hands.  We as Christians have to prepare ourselves for the ups and down of the billows.  We have to keep ourselves prepared because we do not know what may come out way next.  We need to be stead and not be up and down with the billows that we are facing.  In doing the work of God, there is ups and downs in the ministry, but if we are prepared for them, we will be able to face them.  Also, in the deep waters, there is brokenness.  We realize just how weak we are in the deep water.  We can’t do anything about the storm that we are in or about the deep water God has for us, so we just need to leave it all in God’s hands.  He knows how to help us and what it is that we need.  Lastly, there are blessings in the deep waters.  There is the blessing of being able to praise God.  How can we praise God when the billows are all around us and the water is deep?  It’s because we know the Creator of it all.  We get to see the power of God like never before in our lives.  Launch out into the deep.  That is where God wants us.  He wants us to trust Him and launch out and go into unfamiliar territory in our lives. 

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July 17, 2013

We had a good service tonight.  Pastor preached on “Where Do You Fit In?” out of III John 1-14. We all fit in somewhere in a church whether it is good or whether it is bad.  Our life should be like the life and testimony that Gaius had.  He lived a life of truth and had a forward direction about his life.  Is our spiritual life healthier than our physical man?  Gaius’ spiritual man was much stronger than his physical man and that is the way our life should be.  If we want this kind of testimony, we will have to put more effort in our spiritual man than in our physical man.  If our spiritual man is strong then when adversity comes, we will stay prosperous spiritually because we have strengthened our spiritual man along the way to be able to handle adversity.  If we want to be a Gaius we need to have our testimony spoken of by others rather than by ourselves.  There is nothing better in this life than to have somebody testify about our life in the Lord.  When others testify of us, it will strengthen us in the things of the Lord.  Being a Gaius means our testimony will being encouragement to those that are saved and it will demonstrated our love for God.  It will encourage others because they will know that there are others who are taking a stand and still living for God and still wanting to serve God.  Everything ought to be about us going forward for God.  There will be obstacles in the way, but we don’t need to let them affect us.  If we strengthen our spiritual man obstacles will not get in our way and they will not cause us to stop living for God.  Where do you fit in?  Are you a Gaius? How is your spiritual man and how is your testimony?

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July 7, 2013

Tomorrow we will begin VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Please pray for the teachers this week as they teach that they will have the power of God on their lives and that they will teach what the Lord has laid on their hearts to teach.  Also pray for the students that they will have open ears, minds, and hearts to what the teachers have to say each day.  Pray that souls will be saved and lives will be changed this week.

We had a really good day today in the Lord’s house.  We had around 20 visitors this morning with 14 riding the bus.  We are so glad that God brings visitors our way, we enjoy having them and count it an honor that God would bless us and use us in that way. 

The Sunday school lesson was on Philip this morning and how that he was a deacon and was a servant.  We need more people to be servants today.  Today people want to be served rather than being a servant.  If we are going to be a servant, we are going to have to have a servant’s heart.  We can serve and have the wrong attitude about us.  A servant begins with us having the right attitude, not the right actions.  We need to have a servant’s heart, but we also need to be a faithful servant.  Whatever we do, we need to do it faithfully like clockwork.  We don’t need to start something and then quit, because if we do that, then we didn’t have a servant’s heart to begin with.  We also need to be a servant not to please man or to show how we can do this or that, but we need to do it to please God.  God is all that matters in our life.  As long as our attitude and actions please God we should be satisfied.  Our greatest example for being a servant is looking at Jesus when He washed the disciple’s feet. He became a servant when He took on the nature of a human, but He showed His servant hood by being a servant on earth.  If Jesus was a servant, we also should be a servant and serve others.  We need to look for ways each and every day to be a servant (to wash someone’s feet).  Are you a servant, do you have a servant’s heart?

This morning, Pastor preached out of Psalm 127:1 and Psalm 33:12 on “There Are No Exceptions”.  People today are more interested in the building than they are the builder.  The builder is the important thing in our lives.  If we don’t have the right builder, we are going to have one messed up building.  We have to have the Lord as the builder of our lives.  If God doesn’t build our lives, it’s not going to get done.  Our lives will be filled with great tragedy if God is not the builder of our lives.  God’s not interested in us being a fancy building, but He is interested in us being a building that He can build and work with.  Our lives need to be built correctly, and the only way that can happen is if we let God build our lives to what He wants us to be.  God has a purpose and a plan for our lives and if we let Him build us, we will be the building that He has designed for our lives.  We need to let God build our lives as early as possible.  We don’t need to wait until it’s too late to build because if we do, we won’t get to see the results from our building.  Let God build our lives as He knows what is best for our lives.  Is God your builder?

Tonight, Pastor preached on “Watch The Kids” out of Acts 20:7-12.  The kids in our churches today are very important to God and we need to always keep that in mind.  They are the future of our churches and we need to watch the kids in our churches to make sure they don’t fall by the wayside.  Eutychus was surrounded by a lot of good preaching and a lot of light but he still fell out of the window.  Just because our church has a good pastor with good preaching and we have people that love the Lord and want to live for God, doesn’t mean that our young people won’t fall out the window.  If we are not careful we will get to involved and infatuated with what is going on in the house of God that we will forget out the kids in the church. They need someone to encourage them and to help them continue doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord.  The young people are more prone to fall asleep than an adult is and that is why we as adults need to be more watchful over the young people that are in our churches.  Our young people are so important and they need us as adults to watch out for them.  No, they are not going to come up to us and tell us to watch them, but it is something that we need to be doing.  The greatest hero in a young person’s life is the one that watches them.  Are you watching the kids in your church?  Would you be considered a hero in their eyes?

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July 3, 2013

What a wonderful service we had tonight.  Pastor preached on “Managing Your Mind” out of Ephesians 4:17-21.  Our minds are very important and are very powerful as well.  We need to keep our minds managed by thinking in the right way, the way the Lord would have us to think.  If we are not careful with our minds, we will have a falling mind like what is mentioned in the verses here.  Our minds will fall and become like the other gentiles. We will begin to think like the world, which will cause us to act like the world because our mind will control our actions.  We need to have a fixed mind though so that we will not have a falling mind.  We need to keep our mind fixed on God and the things of God.  If we do that, we can have peace in a world that knows no peace.  We need to keep our minds fixed on God and His Word.  We can keep our minds fixed on God and His Word by coming to church, reading our Bible daily, studying God’s Word, praying, meditating, and memorizing the Word of God.  To keep a fixed mind though, we are going to have to have a fighting mind.  We will have to fight to keep our minds fixed on God.  It is a battle, and it’s a battle that we need to fight and win every day of our lives.  Our minds are important and they are worth fighting for.  We need to fight to keep our minds pure, and fixed on God. If we don’t have our minds fixed on God and if we don’t have a fighting mind, our mind will become forgetful.  We will succumb to the things of this world and the devil because we will forget to be watchful.  When we forget to be watchful we will fall.  Also, we will forget what God says.  We will not remember what the Word of God says about the things we are going through personally.  Are you managing your mind?  Is your mind fixed on God and is your mind a fighting mind?  If it is not, then you are not managing your mind wisely. 

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June 27, 2013

We had a very good service tonight.  Dr. Ron Young preached for us tonight as our Pastor is away at a Junior Youth Camp at Pleasant View Baptist Church in Taylor, SC.  Dr. Young preached on “When God Shows Up” out of I Kings 17:8-16. God will show up in our lives when we get to the bottom of our barrel, which will be just in time. God will show up when His man of God is in need.  He will make sure that His man of God is taken care of, even if it is by a widow.  God can use anyone He chooses.  God will show up when all hope is gone (Mark 5).  In this story, Jesus knew exactly where He was going, why He was going there, and who He was going to meet.  He went for a purpose and for a reason.  The maniac of Gadara was there and he realized there was no hope for him.  He realized the only hope for him was Jesus.  God will show up when you look up, and call for help.  When emptiness is pounding away in our heart, God will show up (John 4).  The woman at the well got sick and tired of the emptiness that was in her heart and was looking for something that would fill the emptiness and the love that she wanted.  She found it in Jesus when her heart became willing to listen to God.  When we get tired of being empty inside and look up to God to fill that emptiness, God will show up and fill the emptiness that we have on the inside.  He is just waiting for us to look up and ask Him for help.  When the pain is unbearable, God will show up (John 11).  When we feel like we can’t go any further and we can’t take any more of the pain, don’t give up, because God will show up right on time.  God can and will help us bare our pain as He knows exactly what we are going through.  He will show up and we will be able to keep going for the Lord and doing His work and will for our lives.  God shows up because no man made method will ever work (Luke 8).  The woman with an issue of blood had done all that she could do to get healed.  Her way didn’t work, but God’s way of doing things worked.  We need the power of God in our lives, not some man made methods.  When the opposition is rising, God will show up (John 9).  The man born blind held on to what he knew was true, all he knew was that a man named Jesus healed him.  His stand got him kicked out of the synagogue, but when he did, Jesus was right there to meet him.  When we take a stand for what is right, God will show up and stand up right beside us and help us face the opposition we are facing.  Quit doubting that God will show up, but He will show up, right on time.  Look up to Him.  Has God ever showed up in your life? 

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June 23, 2013

We had a great day today in the house of the Lord.  We had 19 visitors this morning with 15 coming on the bus and many of those were first time visitors.  We are thankful for all the visitors that the Lord sent our way today.

This morning’s Sunday school lesson was on Titus and how he was a co-laborer with the Apostle Paul.  He was not in the lime light as Paul was, but he was of a great help to Paul in the ministry.  We are to be co-laborers with our Pastor and we should be a help to our Pastor.  We should follow our Pastor in whatever he says to do or whatever he desires for the church to do as a whole.  We should pray one for another and help carry each other’s burdens.  A burden is lighter when more than one person is helping carry the load.  We should also build each other up with our words and not tear them down.  Our words can either help or hurt; it’s up to us to make them help.  We also need to do what we can while we can.  Whatever we are told to do in the church we need to do it, and we need to do what we are supposed to do, not what someone else is supposed to be doing.  All that we do in the church should be done for the glory of God, not to make a name of ourselves.  We should all work together so that we stay in unity and that we all stay as a body.  Why do you do what you do?  Do you do what you do to please man, or do you do what you do to please God?  We should be doing what we do to please God.

This morning Pastor preached out of Hebrews 4:14-16 on “He’s Still On The Throne”.  We ought to be thankful that our God is still on the throne and He will always be on the throne.  Because our God is on the throne, there is security in the throne.  Jesus was and is the greatest High Priest that every lived because He is still sitting on the throne today.  Many over the years have tried to dethrone the Jesus, but nothing can dethrone the Lord because He is the one that promoted Himself to the throne.  There is security in His throne.  The throne of Jesus also is a throne of sympathy.  He has sympathy for us and He knows exactly what we are going through.  He knows how to comfort our hearts and He knows the words that need to be said to help us along in life’s journey.  He knows how to sympathize with us because He knows what it is like to be in our shoes.  His throne is also sinless.  Never in His life has Jesus sinned and He has not sinned since He’s been on the throne.  He is the only sinless person that has lived and will ever live.  Lastly, the throne of Jesus is a throne that we will have a strong access to Him.  He wants us to come to His throne and ask for mercy and for help in our times of trouble and difficulties.  He wants to help us, but He wants us to ask Him for help.  Is Jesus on the throne in your heart?  If He is, then you should be thankful that Jesus is still on the throne in heaven. 

Tonight, Pastor preached on “We Don’t Need A New Message” out of Revelations 3:1-6.  The church of Sardis was one of the first churches started but it was also one of the first churches to fall by the wayside.  They had a name for themselves, but their works denied their name.  At one time they were on fire for God, but as time went on, they became dead spiritually.  They had so much confidence in their flesh that they missed out on having the presence of God in their lives and in their church.  They were more impressed with their name than they were with their works.  As long as they had the name they didn’t care what their works said about them.  We don’t need a new message; we just need to be watchful.  If we are not watchful, we will lose our vision.  We will lose the vision of our home and how it should be for the Lord.  When we are not watchful, we will start letting little things into our homes and into our lives that eventually become big things.  We need to remember and strengthen the things that remain.  When we don’t remember things, we start getting weaker spiritually.  Whatever we put in our homes will eventually come out in our lives and in the lives of our children.  It will take time, but it will come out one way or another.  Because we are not watchful in our lives and in our homes, sin has been able to creep in and has made a strong hold in our families.  The TV’s have come back in, or we watch movies, or we watch DVD’s, things that we shouldn’t be doing.  God sees everything that we do, and would He be pleased with what we have allowed into our homes?  We need a revival of what we already know.  If we are not watchful and if we don’t strengthen the things that remain; the bus will quit running to pick up kids on Sunday morning, the print shop will stop running, our visitation program will stop, etc.  Just one thing after another will stop because we are not watchful.  How is your home tonight?  Are you being watchful, or are you allowing things in your home that shouldn’t be allowed?

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June 16, 2013

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We had a great day in the house of the Lord today.  We had 10 visitors today with four of them coming on the bus.  We are thankful to God for all those that visited with us today. 

This morning’s Sunday school lesson was on Timothy and how that he had a faith that was unfeigned.  A faith that was genuine not, fake.  His mother and grandmother taught him in the way of the Lord and taught him to have a faith that was genuine.  He was real wherever he went.  Others could tell by his daily living that he was a Christian and that he loved the Lord.  The question for the students this morning was, is your faith genuine, or is it fake.  If our faith is genuine we will love the Lord will all our heart, soul, strength, and mind.  We will put God first in our life and everything else will take second place.  Not only will we love the Lord, but we will obey His commandments.  We will obey the Word of God and what God tells us to do with our lives.  Also, there will be a difference in our lives.  When we get saved there will be changes about us, we will no longer desire to sin.  When we do sin though, there will be something on the inside of us that will tell us we have done wrong.  If our faith is not genuine, we will say we love God, but our works (our deeds, our actions) will speak otherwise.  Our actions will not back up our words.  We will do the things that God tells us to do; instead we will be rebellious to the things of God.  How is your faith?  Is your faith genuine or is it fake? 

This morning Pastor preached out of Deuteronomy 6:3-11 on “A Checklist For Fathers”.  As a Father, there should be a checklist in your life concerning you and your family in spiritual matters.  The first thing should be that on your checklist is that you don’t want to miss the blessings of God.  The blessings you enjoy each day comes from God, not from mankind.  If you are missing the blessings of God, so are your children.  Your children are not getting what they deserve in getting the blessings of God on their lives when they are still under your roof.  Father’s, don’t miss the blessings of God on your life and the life of your family.  Is there a personal relationship with God?  Is what you have with God personal, or is it just something that you do.  The world is not going to establish to your children who God is, you are going to have to establish that in their lives.  If you do not have a personal relationship with God, then you cannot establish who God is in your children’s lives.  Your children will know if you have a personal relationship with God or not.  Does the Word of God guide you, or do your opinions guide you in your spiritual walk with the Lord?  To raise a godly family, the Word of God has to be your guide, it must be obeyed.  Your opinions will not guide you in the correct way spiritually.  Instead, it will lead you in the wrong direction.  If you are using the Word of God as your guide, your children will still be in church 20 years from now.  There needs to be discipline in your life.  Talk the way of God, walk the way of God, and read the Word of God.  The Word of God should be in your vocabulary and it should come naturally to talk about in your home.  Disciple yourself to where you spend time with the Lord in prayer and Bible reading.  Let your children know how important the things of God are to you.  Lastly, practice what you know.  How much do you have to pass on to your children?  Will it be enough to keep your children in church and your grand-children? 

Tonight, Pastor preached on “I Don’t Want You To Be Hurt By Me” out of Proverbs 27:5-6.  Verse 6 talks about how that a person loves their friend and wants to be a help and a blessing to them.  Do we spend more time helping our friends or hurting our friends?  We should be doing our best to help our friends and not be out trying to tear them apart by hurting them.  First point was when the truth should be known.  We need to speak the truth to our friends.  It’s not always easy to tell the truth when we do it in the right manner.  We need to speak the truth in love, not anger or to get revenge on them.  If speaking the truth is not done in love then we are hurting our friend, not helping them.  We shouldn’t want to hurt others when standing should be seen in our lives.  Sometimes the stand that we take in our lives will hurt others, but again, if we stand for what is right and for the Bible, and we do it in a right attitude, we will be helping our friends even if they get mad at us in the beginning for taking that stand. People sometimes will take our stand the wrong way, but we shouldn’t let them detour us from taking the stand that we need to take for the Lord.    We shouldn’t want to hurt others when forgiveness should be given.  As a Christian, we should be quick to forgive, and we should do our best to forget as well.  If we are not willing to forgive others, that unforgiving spirit will eventually turn into bitterness.  Lastly, we should want to hurt others when words are spoken.  The right words spoken at the right time can be of great value to our friend.  Our words need to be fitly spoken.  Right words will hurt, but will in the end help and encourage our friend.  Are you hurting, or are you helping your friends?

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June 11, 2013

Today was the first full day of YOUTH CONFERENCE 2013.  We got off to a great start with some great messages.  The Lord moved among the young people today and we are thankful for the moving from the messages.

Bro. Travis Proctor (Deacon at Antioch Baptist Church) started the day off with a message on “Your Desires” out of Psalm 37:4.  Our desires makes us accomplish what we want to accomplish.  If we have the desire to live for God, we will live for Him; but if we don’t have the desire to live for God, we won’t live for Him.  In life we will make mistakes, but if we have a desire to live for God, we will dust off the dirt and get back up and start living for the Lord again.  In life we should desires God’s will for our lives.  We should desire His will in everything that we do, in our marriage, and in our service.  We should desire to do and have what all God wants us to do with our lives.  Also, we should desire to be obedient to God and to those that are in authority in our lives.  If we don’t obey God or authority, we have the spirit of rebellion in our lives.  Lastly, we should desire to never go back.  We shouldn’t desire to go back to the world because there is nothing in the world that will help us spiritually.  The opportunity to go back to the world will always be there, but we need to stay away from the opportunity.  How is your desires?  Do you desire to live for God?

Dr. Ron Young (former pastor of Antioch Baptist Church) preached out of II Samuel 18:6-9 on “Absalom, Are You Here?”  Absalom was a person that was void of character.  Absalom hated his own father.  We have no right to start hating those around us.  We need to respect who we are and who our parents are and who our Heavenly Father is.  We need to have enough character about us that we do not run our family name or the name of Christ is the dirt with how we are living our lives.  Learn to build character.  Start early in life learning character and how to have character.  Absalom’s heart was hardened and was not pliable by God.  Our hearts need to be and stay tender toward God adn what He wants for our lives.  Pride was the major problem of Absalom, and pride is our major problem today from doing God’s will for our lives and not giving God our hearts.  We should be happy with who we are in this world physically and spiritually.  Stand up for your physicaly family and your spiritual family.  If you are afraid to stand up for God and what you beleive, you have an Absalom spirit in you.  Are you an Absalom?

The day ended with a message from Bro. Bill South (Pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Warrenton, GA).  Bro. South preached on “Getting In Good With Gibeon” out of Joshua 9:1-15.  God has a place where He wants us to grow, it is up to us to find that place.  God wants us to dwell in the prosperity of living for Him, and His decision in your life.  God has a purpose for us to fulfill for our lives.  We need to find God’s purpose for our lives, and we need to do it with all of our heart and mind.  God wants us to live victorious and we can do that by finding God’s purpose and will for our lives.  We should not be desirous of being a friend with the world (Gibeon).  We need to choose our friends wisely because they will influence us in ways that are bad or good.  The world is going to do all it can to distract us and to make a league with them and to become friends with them.  We need to learn their tactics and stay away from the world.  Our best friends should be people that are in our church, not in this world.  What kind of friends do you have?  Are they worldly or spiritual?  Your friends will determine your spirituality.

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June 10, 2013

YOUTH CONFERENCE 2013 is off to a great start.  The church house was full tonight and we are so glad to see and every young person here.  We are looking forward to all that God will do this week in the lives of the young people. 

To start off the youth conference, Bro. Ron E. Young (Pastor of  Morning Star Baptist Church in  Cleveland, NC) preached for us.  He preached on “Having A King’s Heart” out of I Chronicles 12:1-38. The men that followed David this day rejected the chord of King Saul (a picture of the world) and followed whole heartedly after David.  To have a King’s heart, there must be preparations of the heart.  We have to get our heart in tune with God and with what He wants out of our lives.  There must be a total unity between our heart and God’s.   God can take our heart and make it worth a thousand people.  Only God can do that with our lives, but we have to be yielded to Him and in total unity with His will for our lives.  If we give our best to the Lord, He will give us a great reward for giving Him our best.  We should give God our best because He gave us His best.  God can take something worthless and make some of worth and value out of it.  The way to prepare our heart is with the Word of God.  We have got to get into the Word of God as much as we can if we want to have a heart like the King.  After prepartion comes a passion for the heart.  Passion controls everything about us.  If we are passionate about something nothing will come between us and what we are passionate about.  We will give what we are passionate about our very best and nothing less.  How we need to be passionate about the things of God.  When our heart is in it, nothing will stand in our way.  We need to get that same way about the things of God.  Get so passionate about it that we give it our best and let nothing stand in our way of doing  God’s will for our lives.  Lastly we see the partnership of the heart.  When we are in unity with God, there is fellowship between us and the Lord.  We need to get close to God so that God can trust us with His will and others can trust us as well in spiritual matters.  Nothing will be able to defeat us if we are in tune with God and in unity with His heart.  Will you give God your best?  Do you have a King’s heart?  Can God trust you with His will for your life and can others trust you in spiritual matters?

Wow, what a message to start off the week.  Looking forward to the rest of the week and the messages that will be preached this week. 

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June 09, 2013

YOUTH CONFERENCE 2013 will be here tomorrow evening.  The excitement is in the air and almost all the decorations are completed for the week.  We are looking forward to all the messages that will be preached.  We are praying that the young people will allow God to work in their hearts and lives this week.  Pray for the preachers that are preaching this week that they will have perfect liberty to preach the messages that God has laid on their hearts.  The theme for the week is “Having A Heart For God”. 

We had a great day today.  There were 11 kids on the bus this morning from the bus ministry.  We are thankful for those that came this morning. 

This morning’s Sunday school lesson was on Silas and how that he was a great companion to the Apostle Paul.  Paul and Silas went through a lot together.  There were plenty of good times, but there were plenty of bad times as well.  Through it all, Silas was a great companion to Paul because he was an encouragement to Paul.  As Christians we need to be careful of the friends we choose because our friends will rub off on us.  If we have the wrongs friends they will influence us in the wrong ways and we will soon become like they are.  Not only do we need to choose our friends wisely, but we need to be good friends to others.  If we want friends we must first show ourselves friendly.  We need to encourage others and lift them up, not tear them down spiritually.  If we want others to encourage us spiritually, we need to encourage others.  What kind of friend are you, and what kind of friends are you hanging around?

This morning, Pastor preached on “Don’t Forget The Children” out of Mark 10:13-16.  As adults, we sometimes get so busy, that we forget about our own children, or the children in the church.  We need not get that busy, because God wants us to care about the children.  If Christ cared about the children when He was here on earth, how much more should we care about the children today.  We as adults need to set the example for the children/young people in the church.  They need to see some adults are that are faithful to the house of God, faithful to prayer and Bible reading, and faithful in the things of God.  We cannot expect them to be faithful when we are not faithful ourselves.  The young people in the church need a touch from God.  We as adults need to pray and get sincere about the young people having the touch of God on their lives.  No young person is too young to have their lives touched by God.  We need to spend time in prayer asking God to touch our young people.  They don’t need to have any discouragement in their lives.  They have enough discouragement; we don’t need to add to it.  Instead, we need to fan the flames and help them and encourage them to live for God.  We cannot afford to forget the young people in our churches.  The young people are vital to the house of God, and we need to always remember that. 

Tonight, Pastor preached out of II Chronicles 34:1-3 on “What Are You Going To Do When You Turn 16?”  The question arises, are you going to obey the voice of God, or are you going to disobey the voice of God.  The decision is a personal one, but it is very important.  The decision you make will determine if you will live for God the rest of your life or no.  Josiah was 8 years old when he was crowned king, and from the moment he was crowned King, he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord.  You cannot tell your Pastor or your parents that you are too young to live for God.  Josiah was only 8 years old yet he lived for God.  Josiah came from a destroyed home, and a home that had no godly influence in it.  He didn’t use that as an excuse not to live for God.  At the age of 20 he separated himself from the things of this world.  The young people today need to learn to separate themselves from the things of this world.  They need to cut down those things that are detouring them from serving God.  Cut it down so that it doesn’t come back up again.  Josiah had some convictions of his own.  The young people in our church need to either be learning some convictions, or they should have convictions of their own already.  The youth need to learn the importance of keeping the house of God up and to keep it clean and unspotted from the world.  Just as Josiah realized, the young people need to realize that you cannot mix sin and the church together.  They just will not mix.  They also need to learn to surround themselves with faithful people; people that love God and that want to follow after God.  If they surround themselves with the world, they will become like the world.  But, if they surround themselves with people that love God, then they will have a greater chance at loving God and serving God with their lives.  Young person, what are you doing to do when you turn 16?  Great still, what will you do when you turn 20?  Determine in your heart to live for God.  We need some young people who will sell out to God and live for Him.  Will you be a Josiah?

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June 05, 2013

Had a really good service tonight.  Pastor preached from Matthew 5:6 on “Are You Sitting On Empty?”  In our spiritual life are we full of God, or are we half full of God, or are we empty?  In life, what makes us happy?  The things we pleasure in is what will make us happy.  Do we pleasure in sin or doing what is wrong, or do we pleasure in doing what is right and living for the Lord?  If we are desirous of being full of God, then we are on the right tract to being full of God.  What do we hunger for in our life?  If we hunger after the things of God, we will cause other to be desirous of the things of God.  If we want others to serve God, we need to be the one that sets the example for them and hunger after God.  Do we make others hunger for the things of God?  If we are working for the Lord, we will get hungry for the Word of God.  We will take in every sermon that is preached and we will be able to get help from the messages.  Get busy in the work of the Lord, and we will get hungry.  What will make us thirsty?  Work will make us thirsty.  When we get to working we will get thirsty and we will desire to read the Word of God and let it refresh our souls.  We are not after the Word of God because we are not thirsting after anything.  If we eat from the Word of God (we take in the messages that are preached each week), we will get thirsty and will want to read the Word of God from home.  We won’t be able to get enough of the Word of God in our souls.  What is righteousness?  Righteousness is a purity or life, the correcting of thinking, and the condition that is acceptable of God.  The more we read in the Word of God, the more we will empty ourselves of the impurities of our lives.  We will see just how much we have in us that is not right, and will be desirous of getting it out our lives.  We will want to get our lives clean and right before God.  What does it mean to be filled?  It means to supply to the fullest extent, to occupy fully. How full are we of God?  It is yet to be seen what God can do with someone who is totally yielded to God.  Will you be totally yielded to God to see what God can do with your life for His honor and His glory.  Where are you spiritually?  Are you full, half full, or empty?

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May 29, 2013

We had a good service tonight.  Pastor preached on “Has Everybody Forgotten About God?” out of Isaiah 59:1-8.  In the day we live in, it looks like everybody has forgotten who God is and why we are here.  We are here to serve Him and for no other reason.  We have forgotten that fact because we have allowed iniquity into our lives and because of our iniquity we have been separated from God.  Our iniquities have separated us from God.  Everything is ok with God’s hands, eyes, and ears; the problem is with our hands, eyes, and ears.  We are in trouble because we have let ourselves down and have allowed iniquity to creep into our lives.  We are to the point that we think we are good and great, but we fail to remember just how separated we are from God because of our iniquities.  It has gotten to the point that our iniquities don’t bother us any more.  We have gotten used to living in out iniquity so we see nothing wrong with the iniquity that we are committing on a daily basis.  We can get on the wrong path, the path of sin if we are not careful as Christians.  It’s an easy path to get on, that is why we must guard ourselves everyday and we must put on the armour of God every day.  We must spend time in the Word of God every day if we want to stay on the straight, old time path.  Without the Word of God, we will stray away from the right path and end up on the path of iniquity.  We try to cover up our iniquity, but it is not satisfying to God and it will only work for so long.  After a while, God will reveal our iniquity to others one way or another.  God will not put up with our iniquity forever.  God has not moved, but we have because we have allowed iniquity to come into our lives.  Have you forgotten about God?  Is your life filled with iniquity and separated you from God? 

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May 26, 2013

We had a great day today in the Lord’s house.  We had quite a few visitors today and we are very thankful for all that visited with us today.

Our Sunday school lesson was on Matthew this morning.  Matthew was an unlikely candidate to be a disciple of Christ because of his occupation, but our occupation doesn’t matter to Christ.  Those that we think seem to be the ones that Christ cannot use are usually the ones that Christ uses the most.  God doesn’t use us according to our outward appearance and what our occupation is, but rather He uses us according to the desires of our heart.  As a sinner, we start out life being an unlikely candidate for God to use, but God in His mercy chose to save our souls and through His blood made us worthy to be a disciple of Him.  To be Christ’s disciple, He is not concerned about how good we can sing, or how pretty or handsome we are, or who are parents are, or who we are; but He is concerned about the desires of our heart.  If we desire to be a disciple of Christ and to be used of Him, He will give us the desires of our heart and we will be used by Him.  As long as our heart is right and willing, God will us for His honor and His glory.

This morning, Pastor preached on “What Will It Take To Wake You Up?” out of Acts 16:25-34.  God is trying to wake us up in life because He has work for us to do.  When God wakes us up, we are going to view life differently.  We will realize that our life is gone and that it is ruined because of sin and the devil.  We will realize that in sin there is no hope. Our only hope is found in Christ.  We better start looking for God when He wakes us up.  We must believe in Him and in His Word.  It is all based on Him and not on us.  The Word of God needs to speak to our hearts.  Don’t doubt the Word of God and what it says.  Take it for what it says.  If we don’t understand we still need to trust God and He will reveal His Word to us and then we will be able to understand what God is trying to tell us.  We may not heed the Word of God like we should, but we should let it work in our lives.   Only when God wakes us up to we find true joy.  Outside of Christ our life has no joy.  Joy comes from the Lord and it is our strength to make it when we feel like we can’t go on in life.  When God wakes us up, we will realize there was no peace in our life.  Peace comes from the Lord.  The world gives it’s kind of peace, but the world’s peace only lasts for a shot while.  God’s peace will last for all eternity.  After salvation we realize and know and understand what real, true peace is.  Are you awake?  If not, is God trying to wake you up?  You better wake up before God sends something in your life that you don’t want to happen, but it will wake you up to God. 

Tonight, Pastor preached out of Acts 16:25-29 on “Somebody Is Listening To Your Song”.  Our song is the testimony of our life.  God has given each and every one of us a different song to sing.  This day, Paul and Silas had their song to sing, and they sung it with the right attitude and right heart.  Paul and Silas had just gotten beaten with many stripes yet we find them at midnight singing and praising God.  Oh how we would find ourselves grumbling and complaining if we were in the shoes of Paul and Silas that day.  But, Paul and Silas had a right attitude therefore they had a good song to sing.  We do not live unto ourselves and we do not die unto ourselves.  Others are watching our lives and looking at us on a daily basis.  The life we live each day is the song that we are singing.  The other prisoners heard Paul and Silas singing and praising God that day.  If we have a bad day, how do others see us.  Are we giving off a good testimony, a good song.  Others hear our song, but then the Lord hears our song.  He knows why we are singing and how we are singing and the attitude behind it all.  The Lord hears it and if it is a right song, God will reward us and allow our song to be a tremendous testimony to those around us.  They may not get saved, but we have been able with the help of the Lord to live a right life and sing a good song in front of them.  The jailor heard their song.  Some will hear our song and get saved.  They will see our lives and realize that there is something different about us.  That difference may get them saved.  Do others see a difference in our lives?  There ought to be a distinct difference between our lives and the lives of those that are unsaved.  Our testimony, our way of life may be the only Bible this world will ever read.  Is your testimony a good testimony or is it a bad testimony?  As a saved Christian, we should and ought to have a good testimony about ourselves.  Remember others are looking at your life.  We will never know who is looking and watching our lives. 

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May 19, 2013

We had a wonderful day today in the house of the Lord.  The Lord blessed us with 12 visitors this morning with 11 of them being on the bus. 

This morning’s Sunday school lesson was on Andrew and how that he was always bringing someone to Jesus.  The three times that we are given a look into the life of Andrew, we see him bringing people to Jesus.  He brought Peter to Jesus, he brought the lad whose lunch fed 5,000 people to Jesus, and he brought the Greeks to Jesus.  As Andrew, we need to be concerned with bringing others to Jesus.  Andrew started his life as a fisherman, but God came into his life and made him a fisher of men.  Andrew was one of the greatest examples of a fisher of men in the Bible.  He lived a life concerned about the souls of others.  As a Christian we should be concerned about the souls of others and we ought to be about trying to bring others to Christ.  We have the answer that this world is looking for.  The other religions of this world cannot give man the answer to the question that they are asking, but we can.  Their religion is man made, but our religion is God made.  We need to tell as many as we can because the time is running short.  The Lord could come back tomorrow.  We do not know when He is returning so we need to tell others and bring them to Jesus while we can.  We should not consider bringing others to Christ as a suggestion, but it was given to us as a command.  God commanded us to go, and therefore, we should go and bring others to Jesus.  We need to do what we can while we can because there will come a day when we can’t do and go any more.  When that day comes may we be able to look back and say “I’m glad I did what I could when I could”.  Are you concerned about the souls of others?  Are you trying to bring others to Christ? 

This morning, Pastor preached on “An Invitation You Can’t Afford To Miss” out of Matthew 11:28.  If we do not come to Christ we will never find any rest for our souls.  To get rest, we have to come to Christ.  The invitation that was given by Christ was simple; it was simply “come”.  God doesn’t ask for anything more, but for us to come to Him, whether saved or lost.  Before we come to Jesus, we have to realize that we have a need.  If we don’t have a need, we will never come to Jesus for help and for rest.  God is saying over and over again, come unto me.  One day if we do not answer the call to come, the calling will stop.  We don’t know how many times God is going to say come, which is why it’s such an important invitation.  God is a God of second, third, forth, and fifth chances, but one day His chances will run out.  God invites ALL to come unto Him.  He doesn’t care what we have done or where we have gone.  The invitation is to ALL, we just simply have to come to Him.  We can try to come to Him on our own terms, but we will never be satisfied, because it’s only coming to Him His way that it will work.  When we come to Jesus, He will give us rest for our souls.  Whether we need to come to Him in salvation or whether it is to get back in fellowship with Him as a saved person; we just have to come to Him.  Have you answered God’s calling on your life?  Have you come to Him for salvation?  Are you resting in the Lord?

Tonight, Pastor preached out of 1 Samuel 2:18 on “Seizing The Opportunity To Serve God”.   Samuel’s desire in his life was to serve God.  Until the day he died, Samuel served the Lord in any aspect that God had for him.  Samuel realized that he was serving God.  He was serving the One that was in control of everything around him.  He was serving the God of heaven and earth.  He wanted to do God’s call for his life.  He was interesting in the call of God for his life.  He didn’t worry about what others were doing, but he lived for God and served Him whether anybody else did or not.  Serving God and doing God’s will for his life was all that mattered to him.  Every time that God called Samuel he answered and moved on God’s calling.  As a Christian, we need to realize that we are serving God, serving the One that has saved us from Hell and given us a new life.  Because of Him we have so much in life.  We need more people to be interested in doing God’s calling for their life.  We need to get our eyes off what others are doing or not doing and simply do what God has called us to do.  We God calls us, we need to move and do what He has called us to do.  We need to do God’s will for our life.  If we need advice or help in making sure we are making the right decision, we need to ask our man of God (our Pastor) for advice and trust him and his leadership.  A true man of God will not lead us in the wrong direction, but point us in the right direction.  If we have the thought pattern that we are open to whatever God has for us, we will be willing to do whatever it is that God has for our lives.  If we live wanting to serve God; God will open up many doors for our lives to serve Him.  He just needs a willing vessel to work with.  Are you serving God?  Are you doing God’s calling for your life? 

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May 15, 2013

We had a really great service tonight.  Pastor started a sermon series from the book of Nehum tonight.  Pastor preached on “Raising Enemies of God” from Nahum 1:1-15.  At the time of the writing of this book, Nineveh had backed up on God.  Around 100 years had passed since Jonah visited Nineveh and sparked the great revival that took place in Nineveh.  Since then, Nineveh had backed up on God, and had gotten away from God.  God did not want the revival to end for the city of Nineveh, but man stopped the revival from continuing.  Whenever we walk away from God, we become an enemy of God and the church.  The children of the people of Nineveh went further away from God than their parents did.  The children will always go further away from God than their parents are.  In verses 1 and 2 we see the penalty and punishment of sin.  It all comes from God, not from man.  When God gets fed up with us and our way and us getting further and further away from Him, He will eventually wear our back side out.  In verse 3 we see the process of sin.  God’s anger is slow toward us, but it is sure.  That’s one thing you can count on.  Yes, God is a God of love, but He is also a God of jealousy and anger.  Then, in verse 4-6 we see the pity.  The people of Nineveh forgot about God, so God dried up the rivers of the land.  The land was no longer fertile like it once was.  The land of Nineveh went from being a fertile land, to nothing.  Spiritually, when we get away from God and God gets tired of it, He will dry up our wells of water and we will become dry spiritually.  We take what God has given us for granted, but in reality, it can all be taken away from us in a second.  If we get our eyes off God, He will dry up the rivers in our lives.  Lastly tonight, we looked at the passion found in verse 7.  Through it all, God is still good, a strong hold, and He is known by those that are his.  If we are trying to serve God, be patient and don’t worry, because God has not forgotten us.  If we as Christians don’t take care of the little things that are drawing us away from God, we will eventually become an enemy of God.  The little things will one day add up to a big then, and then we will be gone, and become an enemy of God.  Are you raising children to be enemies of God?  If you are away from God, your children are also going away from God, and they will always go farther than you.

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May 08, 2013

We had a great service tonight.  Evangelist Darrell Weaver was with us tonight and he preached for us as well.  He preached on “Marks Of A True Convert” out of Matthew 18:1-6.  When a person gets saved there will be a difference in their life.  They will no longer be the same, and there will be some major things that will change about them that will be evident in their lives.  One thing that will be different is that we will be pastorable.  As a Christians we should willingly submit ourselves under the authority of the man of God.  God has placed him in authority over us to help us and to guide us in the way that we need to go.  When we submit to his authority over us, we will be teachable and we will be able to be corrected by the man of God.  Another area that will change is that we will be pliable.  Our hearts will be softened by the touch of God on our heart and our lives.  We will no longer be hard hearted, hard headed, self-willed, or a rebel.  Instead, we will be a person that can be molded by what the man of God preaches to us.  We will have the spirit of meekness, and will be willing to change our lives for the good and for the Lord.  We will also have a peaceable spirit.  We won’t be a troublemaker in the church or out of church.  We will do our best to live with peace towards everyone and not be a fighter of those in the church.    We ought to have the testimony that we are easy to get along with and not a troublemaker or a fighter.  Fourthly, we should be predictable.  Our goings, our readings, our money, our music, and our tongue should all be established in the right way.  People should know about us and know the places that we go and the places we don’t go.  The Bible should be our main reading source and we should learn it and hide it in our hearts.  We should also be prayerful.  We should always be in a state of prayer throughout the day.  There is power in prayer and we need to use the resources God has given to us.  Then, we should also be praising.  Our worship should be true worship to the one and only God.  Everybody worships something, and our something as a Christian should be Christ and Christ alone.  Lastly, we should be pure.  We should have purity of heart, a purity of mind, and a purity of love.  We should have a pure walk with God, and not be trying to impress those around us.  Have you ever been changed by God?  If not, then you’ve never been saved.  When God saves a person, He changes them for good and forever. 

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May 05, 2013

WOW!!!  What a day we had in the Lord today.  Three people got saved today in the morning service.  PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Two were bus kids and the other was the father of one of the bus kids.  We are thankful for the three that came forward this morning and got saved.  J  God sure is good to us.  We had a record for the bus ministry this morning.  We had 26 people to ride the bus this morning.  What a blessing and honor it is for God to bless us with all those that come on the bus.  J

For Sunday school, we finished our lesson on Stephen and how that he was a man full of faith.  We looked at the four different types of faith mentioned in the Bible: no faith, little faith, great faith, and full of faith.  The disciples had no faith in Christ because they were fearful of the storm they were in.  Fear will cause us to not have faith in God.  Instead of faith controlling our lives, fear will and therefore we will not do much for God because we have no faith.  We don’t believe that God will take care of us.  Some of us have little faith.  We have little faith because we have faith in God, but yet we doubt His Word and His promises to us.  We doubt God will take care of us and meet our every need.  Then, there is great faith.  We have faith that God will do things, but yet we hold back ourselves or we hold God back from doing more in our lives with our faith.  We are not totally 100% fully trusting God and having faith in Him.  Lastly, we can be full of faith.  That is being 100% full of faith.  Stephen was full of faith and he showed it through the life that he lived.  We as Christians need to be full of faith.  God said if we had the faith the size of a grain of mustard seed we could do impossible things.  Just image what God could do through us if we were full of faith.  How is your faith?  Do you have no faith, little faith, great faith, or are you full of faith. 

This morning, Pastor preached out of John 14:1-9 on “Comforting Words In A Troublesome World”.  If we were ever living in a troublesome world, we are living in a troublesome world today.  Sin is being accepted in the local Baptist churches and they are letting the world come in and take over the church.  Sodomy is running rampant and so is fornication and adultery.  Our world is troublesome, so it is good to hear comforting words from time to time.  We can have comforting words in the fact that Jesus wants us to trust Him.  We may not be able to trust some people in the world today, but we can always trust God.  He will always be there for us and He will always take care of us.  God wants us to trust Him, so we need and should trust Him with our lives.  Why?  Because He knows the end from the beginning and He knows more about us than we do about ourselves.  It is good to know that for those that are saved, we are having a mansion prepared for us right now.  Jesus is building us a mansion up in heaven, and when our home is completed, He will return for His bride.  Our homes on earth are only temporary, but the home God is building for us is for eternity, it will be permanent.  We need to stir up the things that we do know about God and His Word.  When we read the Word of God, it will stir up the knowledge that we do have about God.  We need to share our knowledge with others so they can trust Jesus as their Savior and they can have a mansion built just for them.  We truly need some comforting words in our society today.  But what more comforting words could you ask for than to know that three people got saved this morning.  When we don’t think people will get saved, that’s the time God will move the most just to show us that He has all things in control and He knows what He is doing.  We are so thankful for the three that walked the isle this morning and got saved!!! J

Tonight, Pastor preached on “Allowing Our Love To Grow Stronger” out of Ephesians 3:1-21.  Our roots should be built into the love of Christ.  If we do not have our roots grounded in the love of God, we will soon start to fall, and when we fall, we will either cause others to fall, or we will make it even harder for them to stand.  The more trees are together in a forest, the harder it is for the trees to fall with the wind.  But, once the trees start getting cut down, the easier it is for the ones left to fall because they are not getting any help in withstanding the wind.  Same holds true with a Christian.  The more we realize how big our family is the stronger our love will be and the stronger our bond will be with each other and with Christ.  But, if we fall by the wayside because we quit being rooted and grounded in the love of God, we just may cause another Christian to fall by the way side.  We need to take comfort and courage in each other realizing there is more power when more is present.  When we allow ourselves to be grounded in the love of God, we will strengthen the inner man.  A lot of times our inner man is weaker than our outer man shows.  If our inner man is not strong enough we are going to fall.  We need to strengthen our inner man with the love of God.  God’s strength and love is what strengthens our inner man.  The fuller of love we become, the fuller of God we will become.  If we let the love of Christ fill us up, we will get to see a lot of things happen in our lives, which others or ourselves may not get to see with our eyes, but we will know that God is working and has been working on our behalf.  When we think God cannot do it, that’s when God will do it.  How we need to allow our love to grow stronger.  The more we love God, the fuller we will become of God, and the more we will love the brethren, and those that are lost and dying in this world that are on their way to a devil’s Hell.  How is your love?  Is it as strong as it should be, or do you need to work on your love? 

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May 01, 2013

We had a really good service tonight.  Choir sang and then we had a couple of specials and then preaching.  All that was done tonight in the service was really good.  Pastor preached on “The Importance Of Keeping Yourself” out of Ephesians 4:20-32.  It is important, or it should be important to a Christian to keep their life filled with God.  One way to keep ourselves is that truth must always be present in our lives.  We should live and speak of life of truth not lies.  We ought to be honest, truthful, and trustworthy to others.  If we speak the truth now, we won’t have to worry about what we have said later in life because we know that we spoke the truth and that truth always prevails.  We should have the character trait of a person that is truthful and not a liar.  Also, our temper MUST be handled.  If we let out anger build up, we will give place to the devil.  Wrong anger will allow the devil to seep into our lives and the anger will only grow stronger and stronger over the days, weeks, months, and years.  Anger is right if it’s funneled in the right direction.  If we funnel it towards sin, then we are funneling anger in the right direction.  But, too many times we funnel our anger at each other, which is not the funnel anger should be funneled.  When something happens and we get upset or angry, we need to do something about that anger right then and there, or as soon as possible.  We don’t need to let it build up over time and cause a big mess later in life.  Lastly, we don’t need to be filled with lust.  We should not want and lust after everything that everybody else has.  We need to learn to be satisfied with what we have and what God has given to us.  In today’s society, we suffer from a lack of funds because we spend it on the wrong things.  We try to keep up with the Jones’ and try to impress others with what we have.  We need to learn to work with our hands so that we can help others when they are in need.  If we are lustful, we won’t care about the needs of others.  That’s not the way a Christian ought to be.  We ought to do our best to help others when they are in need.  Our lives should be lived for others, not on or for ourselves.  Are you keeping yourself filled with God?

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April 28, 2013

What a wonderful day we had today despite the rain we had pretty much all day long.  We were able to run the bus the morning for our bus ministry.  What a blessing it is to be able to see the bus up and running to pick up kids and bring them to church.  We had 17 to ride the bus this morning.  We had a total of 19 visitors this morning and we are thankful for each and every person that visited.  Pictures of the bus will soon be posted on the website so keep checking back for pictures to be posted soon.

This morning’s Sunday school lesson was on Stephen.  We were unable to finish the lesson so we will finish it up next week.  We just looked this morning at who Stephen was.  Stephen was one of the first deacons in the Bible and he was also the first martyr in the Bible.  He was a man full of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  He wasn’t 90% full or even 99.9% full of faith, but he was 100% full of faith.  Stephen was full of faith because he was full of the Scriptures.  Faith is something that is very important to the Christian and it begins at salvation.  At salvation we need to cultivate our faith and have our faith grow as we grow spiritually in the Lord.  If we do not have faith in God we are not pleasing to God.  The Bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God.  If we want to please God, we must have faith in Him.  Faith is what gives us the victory to overcome the world and it also is what helps us to quench the fiery darts of Satan.  Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.  How is your faith today?  What kind of faith do you have?  Are you full of faith, or are you lacking in the faith department?  If you are lacking, get close to God and His Word and your faith will begin to increase. 

This morning, Pastor preached on “Has God Changed Your Course?” out of Ephesians 2:1-22.  When we are born we are set on a course that is headed for Hell.  We follow whatever the world has to offer and just go with the flow.  But when God saved us, our course got changed.  It got changed from serving the devil and following the world to serving the Lord and following His will for our lives.  God wants to change the course of everyone that has ever lived and will ever live.  Those that are lost just have to yield up their way of life and living and let God lead their life through salvation.  Before salvation we were just aliens and strangers of God and we were the enemy of God.  But through salvation we become an alien and stranger to the ways of the world and we become the friend of God.  God wants to change the course of everyone in this world.  God changes the course of a person’s life by His mercy and His grace.  A lost person is spiritually bankrupt and when he realizes that, he will call on the person that can help him out.  That person is God, because He is rich in mercy and grace.  He is the one that can take a person from being spiritually bankrupt and filling his life with mercy and grace.  God’s mercy and grace will never run out.  It doesn’t matter how bad a person is, or how much evil a person has done, or how good a person is, God’s mercy and grace will all be more than sufficient to meet their need.  God wants to change a person’s course because of His kindness.  He is so kind that no amount of bad or wrong can keep Him from showing kindness in a person’s life.  He wants to fill a person’s life with a peace that they have never known before.  The world gives them peace only for a short period of time, but the peace that the Lord gives is for all eternity.  Has God changed your course?  Have you ever been saved?  If you have never been saved, God has never changed your course.  If you are tired of the course you are on, why don’t you ask God to save you and change your life and the course you are on?

Tonight, Pastor preached out of Ephesians 5:22-33 on “Where Has All The Spiritual Men Gone?”  In today’s society there is a lack of spiritual men in the home.  That is not the way that God intended for the home to be.  God intended for the man to be the spiritual leader of the home and to be spiritual enough to lead their home the way it should go.  There is a divine order in the home that God has set up.  The order of a spiritual home is:  God, the husband, the wife, and then the children.  Unfortunately today, in a lot of homes, the children are the ones that lead the home instead of God.  God should be the head of the home.  The husband should get orders for running his home from God, and the wife should be submissive to the husband, and the children should follow their parents leading.  When the order that God has set up for the home gets out of order, the home is set up for trouble and possible destruction.  God has a set order for the home for a specific reason.  There should be a divine subjection in the home as well.  The husband should be the leader in subjection by subjecting himself to the Lord.  When the husband subjects himself to the leading of the Lord for their home then the wife will be able to subject herself more easily to her husband and the children will be able to follow their parents.  The husband is the role model in the home.  If the husband does it, the rest of the family will have an easier example doing what he says because he is living by example.  When the husband is not subjective unto the Lord, it will be harder for the rest of the family to subject to his leadership.  The wife has to make a choice to be submissive to her husband, but the choice will be easier to make when she see that he is subjected unto the Lord’s leading in his life.    There should also be a divine separation in the home.  There should be a separation from sin.  When sin is in the home the relationship between the husband and wife is not there.  Sin will cause a husband and wife to be separated in a way that should not be there.  If the husband is not living a clean life, he cannot clean up his home.  You cannot clean your house if you are not clean.  The husband will lead by example, and what he does, the family will follow.  If the husband is a spiritual husband then the family will be a spiritual family.  Husband, are you are spiritual man?  When was the last time you picked up your Bible and read it?  Has your family seen you reading your Bible and praying?  If not, you are not living a spiritual example in front of your family.  Husband be a spiritual man, a man your family can count on and come to with spiritual questions and problems.  We need more spiritual men in our homes.  Will you be that spiritual man?

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April 24, 2013

We had a great service tonight.  Pastor preached out of I John 5:18 on “Some Things We Know.”  As a Christian there are a lot of things we know, and we need to remember those things.  One thing we must not forget is who we are.  We are a Child of God.  In this verse we see that we know that we sin not.  We sin not because of the deliverer we have is different.  Sinning is not our way of life any more.  Yes we sin, but we do not desire to sin and sin does not control our lives.  Sin no longer has dominion in our lives like it at one time did when we were lost and on our way to Hell.  Another thing we know is that we must keep ourselves.  The word keep in this verse means “to guard.  We guard those things that are important or of value to us.  Our lives should be important and of value to us so much so that we guard our lives.  A life changed by God is worth guarding.  We need to guard our lives all the time, 24/7, 365 days a year for the rest of our lives.  If we will do our duty (guard ourselves), Satan cannot do his duty (touching us).  If we guard ourselves, Satan cannot touch us.  But, f we do not guard ourselves, we will do or say something that we didn’t want to do.  If we don’t keep ourselves, we are opening up ourselves to the devil touching our lives.  Satan is waiting and watching for an opportunity to touch our lives.  We have go guard ourselves because Satan wants nothing more than to touch our lives.  If we let our guard down and let Satan touch our lives, he’ll leave a mark on our lives that will last forever.  We will not be able to forget the mark that Satan has left on our lives.  We must guard our lives, and we must guard if faithfully.  If Satan finds nothing in our lives that is of his nature to work with, he has nothing to work with and therefore cannot touch our lives.  How faithful are you in guarding your life?  Do you count your life of any value and importance?  Your life is important and of value to God and that should make your life important to yourself. 

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April 21, 2013

God blessed us with 17 visitors today.  God is still blessing the bus ministry; we had 13 riders this morning on the van.  Today will be the last day that the bus kids ride the van to church.  Our bus has gotten fixed up with a new paint job and new lettering.  The kids will be able to ride the church start this Sunday.  What a blessing.  A special thank you goes out to all those that worked on painting the bus. 

This morning’s Sunday School lesson was on Apollos and how that he was a person that was willing to listen to others.  Apollos was a preacher and was eloquent and fluent in the Scriptures, yet he was humble enough to let Aquilla and Priscilla teach him more perfectly the things of the Word of God.  He was not too prideful to learn from a couple whose occupation was tent making.  We as Christians need to have the same type of attitude.  When we think we know it all, we cease to learn and it shows how very little we do know.  From the day we are born, till the day we die, we will learn something new almost every day.  The books we read, the friends we hang out with, our teachers, our parents, and our Pastor are all people that will influence us in our learning.  If we want to learn, we have to be willing and desiring to learn.  If we don’t desire to learn, we will not learn.  If we are going to learn anything from anybody we will have to listen and ask questions.  Listen to what people have to say and if you want to learn more, or if you don’t understand what they are talking about, ask questions.  If you don’t understand something and never ask a question you will not learn the concept.  When listening and learning, have a humble attitude.  Just because we might be a pastor, or a Sunday School teacher, or a deacon, that doesn’t mean we know everything.  We all have room to learn things because no one person alive today knows everything.  Be humble enough to accept others wisdom no matter what position we may hold in the church.  We also should be willing to accept reproof.  We will do things wrong from time to time and when we do; we need to accept the correction that comes from others around us.  When we make mistakes though, we need to learn from them.  Keep an open mind and listen to others, and in doing so, you will learn from others.  The only difference in a person five years from now will be because of the books he reads and the people he meets. 

Pastors message this morning was out of Luke 16:19-23 on “How To Live Forever With a Rich Man”.  The rich man in this story ended up dying and going to hell.  He served his money and his possessions.  He trusted in his riches and his possessions and he ended up in hell because riches and possessions cannot get you into heaven.  If you want to spend eternity in hell with this rich man, all you have to do is live to impress others instead of God.  He dressed to impress others.  He wanted people to think that he was somebody when he was really a nobody.  People today do the same thing.  They wear nice clothing and go to church and they think they have everybody impressed.  They may have all the church members fooled and impressed, but they have not impressed God.  God is not impressed with how we dress, but what is on our heart and what we are trusting in.  This rich man also learned to be the one served instead of serving others.  He had servants and they served him and took care of him.  He didn’t care for others and their needs.  He care nothing for Lazarus as he sat by his gate daily.  If you are living for others to serve you, you are headed to hell with this rich man.  He also distanced himself from saved people.  He didn’t want to live a life of suffering.  He looked at Lazarus every day and said to himself if this is what it means to be a Christian, I want no part in it.  He wasn’t willing to bear the cross.  Who you hang out with tells what kind of person you are.  If you hang around the worldly crowd more than you do the people of God; chances are you are not even saved, because a saved person desires the fellowship of the brethren.  You can die and go to hell with this rich man, or you can die and go to heaven with a different rich man.  This rich man’s name is Abraham.  Abraham was a rich man, but he didn’t trust in his riches, and he didn’t live to impress others, and he lived to serve others.  Abraham lived by faith looking for the promises of God.  One day you will die and you will spend eternity with a rich man either in heaven or in hell.  Which place will you be going when you die?

We had a great service tonight.  We had lots of good congregational singing and special singing, and then we had a great time of testimonies as well.  Pastor preached on “Learning To Live Like A Servant” out of 2 Kings 4:8-17.  In this portion of Scripture, the Shunammite woman was a great example of what a servant should be.  As Christians we should be a servant.  If our Lord was a servant when He was on earth, how much more should we be a servant to others?  To be a servant, we should always look for an opportunity to serve.  Wherever we are, we should look for something to do to help someone else.  This Shunammite woman looked for a way to serve the man of God.  If we see something that needs to be done, we should do it and not wait for somebody to tell us what to do.  We should be persistent in wanting to help others.  Let them know that we want to help them in any way we can.  A servant’s heart and a servant’s attitude is what we should have as Christians.  A true servant will do whatever they can to serve even if it means cleaning the toilets in the church.  A true servant doesn’t care what job or duty they are given, they are just happy that they have a chance to serve others and to be a servant for Christ.  When we serve others, God will bless us.  He may just give us something that we have wanted to have, but have never told anybody.  If we are a true servant, God will not over look what we have done.  He sees and notices all that we have done and He will reward us with blessings.  It may be blessings no one else can see, but we will know and see God’s blessings on our lives.  Are you a servant?

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April 18, 2013

We had a great evening tonight at church.  Pastor preached a great message on “Bitterness” out of Hebrews 12:15 and Ephesians 4:30-32.  Bitterness is something that every Christian will face at some point and time in our lives.  We have two choices that we can make toward bitterness.  We can either let bitterness come in, or we can keep bitterness out of our lives.  Bitterness is like making poison for someone, then drinking it ourselves.  When we become bitter, we are only hurting ourselves, we are not hurting the person we are bitter at.  Most of the time the person we get bitter at doesn’t even know we are bitter at them, which means we are only hurting ourselves, we are drinking our own poison.  Bitterness starts out very small; it starts out as a root hair.  It starts small where no one can see it, and if it is nurtured it turns into a big root and then a tree if we are not careful.  People get bitter over different things that have transpired in their lives.  So, we have to be careful, because if we are not, we will become bitter at anything.  We could become bitter at our family because they are not like someone else’s family.   Or it could be because a child thinks their parents done them wrong, or vise-versa, the parents think their child/children have done them wrong.  We also can become bitter at our friends over different things.  They could be more popular than us or more spiritual than us, or they do more things than us.  Thoughts creep into our minds like that, that most of the time is not even true.  It’s just the devil trying to get us to have bitterness in our heart and tear a friendship apart.    If we are not careful, we can also become bitter at God.  We can say, we can never get bitter at God.  Well, if we are not careful it can happen.  We can get bitter at God because a prayer didn’t get answer, or it didn’t get answered like we wanted it to.  We can get bitter because things have not been going the way we would like for it to go.  All those things can cause us to become bitter at God if we are not careful.  Bitterness is something that we as Christians cannot play with. It will start out as something small but if it is not nipped in the bud, it will one day become a tree.  A root can only grow if it is given the right nutrients.  Same things holds true with bitterness.  The only way bitterness can grow in our lives is if we nurture it.  Stop bitterness at the root hair; don’t let it become a tree in your life. 

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April 14, 2013

What a great day we had today at church.  It was good to have Evangelist Jimmie Clark and Farmers Christian Academy Girls home with us today.  They were all such a blessing to us today.  We had a good number of visitors this morning.  We had around 38 visitors this morning not including Bro. Clark and the girl’s home.  That would make our visitor count about 46 visitors.  We had 20 young people come on the van this morning.  The van had to make two routs this morning just to bring in all the kids.  What a blessing.  God sure is good to us.

For Sunday School we looked at John the Baptist and how that he was the forerunner of Christ and how that he made little of himself and more of God.  Jesus is the Light of the World and as He is the light, we are to be a reflection of His light to others.  We are a reflection of His light when we make more of Christ than we do ourselves.  But, pride is something that we all have to watch out for, because it will get in the way.  Pride will cause us to lift ourselves up and not Christ.  We are not better than anybody else, we are all the same.  If we want to be a reflection of God’s light, we need to let others praise us.  When we have done something worth commending, let someone else praise us for the work that we were able to do, but not only let them praise us, but let them know that it’s because of God that we was able to do what we have done. God gives us all abilities to do things and when we are commended for what we do, we need to realize that if God hadn’t given us those abilities or talents, we wouldn’t be able to do them.  No, we are not worthy of all that God gives us and does for us, but He gives them to us because in His eyes He sees us as worthy.  Our talents and our abilities come from God.  All that we are allowed to do; we need to do it for the honor and glory of God.  We shouldn’t do what we do to please man, or to satisfy man, but it should be to bring honor and glory to God.  He’s the One that made us, and gave us our abilities, so what we do should be done for Christ.  When we do these things in our lives, we will be lifting up Christ and not ourselves.  We will be saying as John the Baptist did “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

This morning, Bro. Clark preached for us.  He preached out of John 21:1 on “When Jesus Shows Up”.  When Jesus shows up in our lives things will be changed, and things will be different.  We won’t be the same person that we once were.  There will be a marked difference in our lives.  Our dress will change when God shows up in our lives.  We will want and desire to dress according to the Bible and how the Bible teaches for a man and a lady to dress.  When God shows up, there will be a fire.  God will put something inside our lives that will cause us to be on fire for Him.  We will get stirred up about the things of God.  Food will also be enjoyed, that is spiritual food.  We will desire to grow in the things of the Lord and desire the food of God’s Word.  We will desire to read God’s Word and to learn all that we can about His Word and His desires for our lives.  Our failures will be forgotten by God.  Before we got saved we were full of failures and wrong doing (even as saved individuals we fail and do wrong) but God forgets about our failures.  He will take a drunk and call him to preach and only He can take a prostitute and turn her into a godly lady.  God gets over failures and past mistakes and makes new creatures out of people and gives them new desires for their lives.  Our faith will be increased when Jesus shows up in our lives.  We will want to live by faith and do according as He wants with our lives.  We will learn to trust Him more and rely on Him more with our lives.  Lastly, our faults will be erased.  We will no longer see the faults of others, and if we see them we will over look them and not let them get in our way between us and God and between us and others.  If we have faults with others, we will get those faults made right and get things right between us and that person.  When God shows up, a lot of things happen.  Nothing will ever be the same again.  All things will be changed and some things will be new in our lives.  Has God ever showed up in your life?  If so, is it evident and can others see that God has shown up in your life. 

This afternoon, Bro. Clark preached “The Battle Of The Mind” out of Matt. 22:37; Luke 10:27; James 1:8, 4:8; Acts 17:11; Rom. 1:28, 7:23, 8:5.  Satan has an all out war again us on our mind.  Our mind is a treasure place and can be used for either good or bad.  What we think about and meditate on will eventually come out of our lives in the outward show.  What goes in must come out and it will come out sooner or later.  If we allow the devil into our mind, he will destroy our mind and use it for himself.  Before we got saved, the devil tried his best to keep us from getting saved; but, now that we are saved, he wants to destroy out testimony.  The devil is trying to detour us.  He wants us to get off the tract and the race that God has set for our lives.  When we get off tract with God, we are affecting more people than just ourselves.  We are affecting everyone around us.  Satan wants us to get detoured from doing God’s will for our lives.  He wants to dampen our spirit.  He doesn’t want us to be on fire for God, he wants us to be cold and indifferent towards God.  He wants us to be up and down in our lives spiritually. Those that go up and down all their Christian life never amount to anything for the Lord because they are not consistent in their spiritual walk with the Lord.  The devil wants us to be double minded in our lives to where we cannot make decisions for ourselves.  If we can’t make decisions we are double minded.  We need to learn to become decisive and do what God wants us to do.  Focus and decide on one thing at a time.  The devil wants to delay God’s plans for our lives.  He wants us to get busy and forget about doing what God wants us to do with our lives.  He wants us to become distracted with the things of this world so that we will keep putting of doing God’s will for our lives.  Sometimes, some things are good, but they are not what God wants for us.  We need to be careful and only do what God has called us to do and what He wants us to do with our lives.  He wants us to get our eyes off of doing God’s will for our lives.  The devil is battling in our mind to try and divorce us from the truth.  If he can ever divorce us from the truth of God’s Word, he has us.  That’s why we need to learn the Bible and stick with what the Bible has to say.  Don’t detour from it and don’t question the Word of God.  Believe the Bible and what God has to say. The battle is truly on in our minds.  We need to armor up and start fighting the devil and not let him have control over our minds.  He wants control only to destroy us. 

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April 10, 2013

Our midweek prayer service tonight was very good.  We had a missionary to Botswana, Africa with us tonight.  Bro. Rob & Sis. Myra Johnson was with us and he gave us about 15-20 minutes worth of information about his calling and the country of Botswana.  

Pastor finished his sermon series tonight on “Everybody Hates Homework” out of 2 Peter 1:5-7.  He preached on the last two things that are mentioned in these verses that we need to continuously add into our lives as Christians.  The things that have been preached on lately are important to a Christian, for if we do not add these things to our lives we will fall and/or we will forget that we have even been saved.  They are essential to our lives spiritually.  Tonight we looked at brotherly kindness.  Brotherly kindness is our love towards our brothers and sisters in Christ.  This attribute is developed at home, yet displayed at the church.  It is developed by us spending time in prayer for our brothers and sisters in Christ.  If we are praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ, we will have a hard time having problems with them.  We ought not to let things come between us and others.  Sometimes showing brotherly kindness involves bearing the burdens of others.  It’s not a fun or easy task to do, but if we really care for others we will be glad to help them and bear their burdens with them.  We should desire to build others up in the faith.  We ought to think and pray about way that we can build another Christian up.  We don’t need to wait until it’s too late to build them up, but we need to build them up before it is too late.  Lastly, we need to have charity.  Charity is love derived from and towards God.  It is a godly love because it comes from God.  Again, this attribute is developed at home and displayed at church.  If we love others like we say we do we will go as far as it takes and do whatever needs to be done even if we need to lay down our lives for someone.  The Holy Spirit of God is what activates this love in our hearts.  We need to love others with the love that God gives and the love that God shows towards us.  Are you adding these attributes to your life?  We need to add these things to our lives; it is very important and very vital to our lives spiritually. 

Looking forward to Sunday, as Evangelist Jimmie Clark and Farmer’s Christian Academy Girls will be with us all day.  It should be another great day in the Lord’s house. 

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April 07, 2013

We had a good Sunday today.  We had around 21 visitors this morning with 12 of them riding the van to church this morning.  What a blessing.  We are just so thankful for the visitors God sends to us each week. 

For Sunday School we looked at Simeon in Luke 2:25-35, which was promised by God that he would not die until he had seen Jesus the Messiah.  He lived to fulfill God’s purpose for his life.  Simeon was a just man, a devout man, a patient man, and a man that was full of the Holy Ghost.  God has a purpose for each and every person on planet earth today.  For those that are not saved, He wants them to be saved.  He doesn’t want them to die in their sin and go to Hell, but He wants to save them so that they can live forever with Him in heaven one day.  For those that are saved, He has a purpose for your life as well.  Each person has their own purpose to fulfill in life.  Not every man will be a preacher, not every man will be a deacon, not every man will be a Sunday School teacher, not every man will be a pastor.  But, not every lady will be a preacher’s wife, not every lady will be a deacon’s wife, not every lady will be a Sunday School teacher, and not every lady will be a pastor’s wife.  We all have a different purpose to fulfill and we need to find out what God wants us to do.  If we desire to do something for God, God just might give us the desire of our heart.  But if we want to know God’s will for our life, we too must be just, devout, patient and fully of the Holy Ghost.  God will not make us do His will for our lives, but He will show it to us, and it’s up to us to do God’s will for our lives.  Until God reveals what His will is for our life, we need to be doing what we can at our point in life.  If we are doing nothing now, God will not use us.  So, we need to be busy doing what we can now so that God can use us. 

This morning, pastor preached out of Luke 8:22-25 and Matthew 8:23-27 on “You Cannot Surprise God.”  Jesus was not surprised this day about the storm that they were in on the lake.  When the disciples woke Jesus up, He was not surprised that there was a storm.  Why? Because He knew Who created the storm and where the storm came from.  Before Him and the disciples got in the ship to go to the other side of the lake, Jesus knew they would encounter that storm, but He did tell His disciples that they were going to go to the other side.  The disciples’ reactions to the storm did not surprise Him.  Jesus knows all things so He knew before hand how His disciples were going to act.  The disciples did all they could to keep the boat from sinking, but they could not handle this storm on their own.  They needed the Master.  In the midst of the storm is when they finally woke the Master up and asked Him “carest thou not that we perish?”  Although He told the disciples that they had little faith, Jesus stood in the ship and said “peace be still.”  When Jesus spoke those words, then wind and water went calm immediately.  They obeyed the voice of the Master.  Why? Because He was the Creator of the winds, and water.  Jesus was also not surprised by the results.  A man on the other side of the lake saw the storm and saw the winds and waves go to an immediate calm.  The man knew that if Jesus could calm the storm on the lake, that He could calm the storm on the inside of him.  He wanted what Jesus had to offer.  In the storms we face, God doesn’t want us to try and man the storm ourselves.  He wants us to cry out for help at the beginning of the storm because He knows what is fixing to happen in our lives.  As Jesus surely wanted the disciples to cry out for help when the storm started on the lake that day, God wants us to do the same.  When troubles and trials come our way, we need to cry out for help and ask God to help us through the storm.  He knows the best way out of the storm because He created the storm, and He created the exit as well.  We need to give our storms to the Lord. 

Tonight before the service began, we had a wonderful time of testimony.  We have many in the congregation that stood up and testified about how good God had been to them.  The testimonies were a blessing to hear.

Tonight, Pastor preached on “I Wish I Would Have Stayed” out of Judges 7:1-7.  Sadly so say, there are many people that are saying that they wish they would have stayed.  Young people, adults, and families that have gotten away from God and out of church are saying why did I ever leave?, why did I not just stay?  No, those thoughts did not come to them the moment they left, but the thought came to them later in time when they finally realized they were wrong for ever leaving the Lord.  A Christian that is not committed is not a Christian.  When as a Christian we start something, we should keep it up and finish the job.  Do it until the job ends, or we are unable to do it for physical reasons, or we die; whichever comes first.  When we get away from the Lord we miss out on being the person that God has confidence in.  God will not have confidence in a person that is wish washy, and that goes away from Him.  He will only have confidence in those that say with Him no matter how rough the times get.  This day in the life of Gideon, God knew the 300 men could get the job done because they were not scared.  They believe in the Lord and in Gideon.  They were not scared for God to use them, so God was able to use them that day to bring victory to Israel.  We don’t need to be scared of doing God’s will for our lives and for Him to use us.  God wants to use us.  When we get out of the fold, we also miss out on being the one to help bring the victory.  God could not use those that left because they were afraid or because they drunk the water wrong, because they were not there to be used by God.  If we are not in church and not close to God, God cannot use us.  If we want to be used by God, we have to be where God can use us.  That place is in church and close to God.  When we stay with God, there is no telling what God can do with our lives.  There will be so many stories to tell if we just stay with God.  Let God use you in any way that He wants to.  The best and safest place to be is in the center of God’s will.  We need to get there and stay there.

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April 03, 2013

Pastor continued his Wednesday night sermon series on “No One Likes Homework” out of II Peter 1:5-11.  Tonight was part 3 of the series.  He picked up where he left off from last week and started dealing with the next thing in line that we need to add into our lives.  Knowledge is something that we also need to add in our lives.  Not so that we can be prideful about how much we know but so that we can be a help to others.  When we boast about how much we know about the Scriptures in the wrong way, we will turn others away from the Bible.  We are no longer being a useful instrument in the hand of God.  God wants us to help others, but not in a boastful manner.  We should read and study our Bibles so that we can be a help to those that are in need whether they are lost or saved.  God wants us to study and get knowledge.  It should be so that the world can come to us and ask us questions about our faith and we can give them the right answer with the right attitude.  We also need to add temperance, or self control, to our spiritual lives.  We ought to be able to withstand the worldly desires and fleshly desires that our body has.  Those areas ought to be under control in our lives to where they do not control our lives.  Yes, worldly and fleshly desires will creep up on us from time to time, but they should not be taking control of our lives.  Temperance also deals with our temper.  How fast are we to get mad at someone or something just because she/he or it does not work or do like we want them to?  Our temper should be under control and we should be a mild mannered person.  Things are not always going to go our way, but we shouldn’t allow those things to bring out the temper in us.  Also, patience is something that is needful to be added to our lives.  We need to run our race with patience.  How fast we run is not as important as how far we can run.  In the Christian life we are to run the race.  Many times Christians start out running fast but they never last long in the Christian walk.  It is better to run at a slow and steady pace than to run fast and quit long before the finish line gets to us.  Not only do we need to run with patience, but we need to have patience in the trials that come our way.  If we are running our race with patience when a hard time comes or when tribulation comes, it will not cause us to swerve away our race.  Lastly tonight, we looked at godliness.  We ought to be striving to live like the Lord Jesus Christ.  We ought to live our life like it was Jesus that was standing right there beside us.  We ought to live a godly life and have a godly testimony to others.  Our lives should be lived holy, and Christ like.  Are you adding these things to your life spiritually?  If not, start adding these things to your life tonight.  If you are adding them, keep it up and don’t let them fall by the wayside.  Each day add these things to your life because they are important to a Christian. 

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April 01, 2013

We had a special service tonight.  Pastor decided after church last night to have a special meeting tonight for the young people of the church.  Bro. Stacey Shiflett (Pastor of Pleasant View Baptist Church in Taylors, SC) and family is done visiting with Sis. Shiflett’s parents (Dr. Ron and Sis. Jan Young) for a few days.  With him being down, Pastor decided to have a one night service with him preaching.  What an evening we had as well.  We had some great singing and some great preaching as well.

Bro. Shiflett preached an excellent message tonight to the young people, but it also spoke to the adults as well.  Bro. Shiflett preached on “One In A Million” out of Numbers 27:15-23.  Joshua was a person that God picked out among the million or more Israelites to lead the children of Israel to Canaan land.  Before he was chosen to do that, he had prepared himself over the years to be a leader and to be one that could be used by God.  The first time we find Joshua mentioned, we find that he was a fervent man.  He couldn’t get enough of God; he was on fire for God.  He stayed in the tabernacle longer than Moses, and he wasn’t satisfied with worshipping God from his tent.  He had seen Moses talk to God face to face and he was desirous of having that kind of relationship with God.  It is not recorded in the Bible where he ever had a conversation with God face to face, but that never kept him from being desirous of it happening.  Every day that desire was there.  Joshua did what he did not to impress others or to be a show off, but he did what he did because he loved God and there was something on the inside of him that pulled him to do what he did.  Not only was Joshua a fervent man, but he was also a fearless man.  Today we are afraid to work with others, work with the bus ministry, work in the print shop, or go soul winning.  We are afraid to stand up for what is right.  Joshua was afraid of none of those things.  Instead, he stood up for what was right and he was willing to fight when he came back from spying out of the land of Jericho.  When we become fearless there is no telling what God can do with our lives.  For when we become fearless we then are allowing God to take total control over our lives.  Joshua was also a fighting man.  We need to fight for our marriages, for our children, and to keep our minds clean.  Those things are worth fighting for.  To walk with God, we are going to have to fight every day all day.  Joshua fought a good fight with his life.  Are we fighting a good fight with our lives?  Are we fighting for what we believe in and for those things that we hold dear in our lives?  Joshua was also a forceful man.  He didn’t beat around the bush, he got the job done and he told the truth.  Joshua knew which side he was on and which way he was going.  He was going with God no matter what others said or did.  Our mind set needs to be the same way.  We need to make our mind whose side we are on and when we get on God’s side we need to be on His side 100%.  Lastly, he was a faithful man.  Through his whole life, he was faithful to the Lord.  He was faithful in serving Him with his whole heart.  He never backed up on the Lord.  We need to be faithful to the house of God, to our Bible reading, our praying, soul winning, and whatever we are involved in.  We need to be counted as someone who is faithful.  Are you a one in a million person?  Can God use you like he did Joshua?  Are you preparing your life to be used by God?  It is never too late or too early to prepare your life to be used by God. 

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March 31, 2013

HAPPY EASTER!!!!  HE IS ALIVE!!!!!! 

The Lord really blessed us today with some good services.  We had about 31 visitors this morning with 12 of those coming on the bus.  We don’t take our visitors for granted so each one that comes we are thankful to God for sending them our way.

This morning’s Sunday School lesson was on the resurrection of Christ out of John 19.  We looked at the crucifixion of Jesus and then His burial and resurrection.  We looked at all that Christ went through before the crucifixion and at the crucifixion just for us.  He was not guilty of sin but He was guilty of loving mankind.  He loved us so much He was willing to come to earth and die on the cross to pay for our sins.  He took the beating, the crown of thorns, the pulling of the beard, the beating of the rod, the crucifixion all because of His love for us.  He didn’t have to, but He wanted too.  He actually counted it a joy to suffer for our sins.  The most important part of this story is that He rose again the 3rd day from death.  That’s what makes our religion different than any other religion in this world.  We can go by the tomb of Buddha and we will find his body there.  We can go by the tomb of Mohammad and we will find his body there. But, if we were to go to the grave of Jesus we would not find His body there because He rose from the dead.  He had power over death, hell, and the grave.  Our Lord and Savior lives for evermore.  Because of His death and resurrection we can one day live with Him forever more if we are saved.  Because He lives we have the power to face today and tomorrow and the days ahead of us. 

This morning Pastor preached on “What Really Happened On Resurrection Morning” out of John 20:1-18.  In today’s society many people do not even know what the real true story of Easter is.  All they know is that of an Easter bunny and Easter baskets.  They don’t know that Easter is really about the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. On resurrection morning His resurrection confounded the witnesses that were there that day.  People today are still confounded about His resurrection.  People cannot believe that it really happened that day over 2,000 years ago, just as some people couldn’t believe it when it happened on that resurrection morning.  It confused the world as to what took place.  The world tried everything they could to stop the resurrection from happening.  They had a plan to stop God, but they couldn’t stop God.  No one can stop God from doing what He wants to do and is going to do.  They rolled a huge stone over the tomb and put their best soldiers to stand watch over the Lord’s grave.  But all this did not stop God’s plan, He still rose from the dead.  Christ’s death gave life to us that are saved.  Death for a Christian is not the end, but it is just beginning of some more and something wonderful.  For Christians, Easter is a time for us to celebrate the Lord’s victory over death, hell, and the grave by resurrecting from the dead.  We should be thankful that we serve a risen Savior. 

Tonight Pastor preached out of I Timothy 2:1-10 on “The Reason For Modesty In The Christian’s Life.”  As Christians we shouldn’t dress to try to impress others with our fancy clothes, but we should dress to please and to bring glory to God.  When we lose the thought that we are dressing for the glory of God then we are dressing the wrong way.  Modest dressing goes for both men and ladies on their dress.  Men should dress modestly and so should ladies.  Men should dress like men and a lady should dress like a lady.  How we dress affects others, it doesn’t just affect us.  If affects people in leadership positions because others are looking at us.  If we are dressing wrong and are in leadership position, then we are teaching others to dress wrongly.  Therefore, we should do our best to make sure that how we dress will please and glorify God.  How we dress affects the world.  There should be a distinction between how we dress and how the world dresses.  They should know by our dress that we are different, we are peculiar.  We will leave an impression on the people we see every day whether it is good or bad.    Our dress tells more on us than we sometimes think or realize.  It is important how we dress.  How we dress can produce godliness.  If we are dressing right, we will be able to lift up holy hands in praise and adoration to God.  If we are dressing right it shows that we are trying to live holy and wanting to please and glorify God with our body.  We are not doing it to show off and impress others, but we are doing it to only glorify God.  How are you dressing today?  Does your dress glorify God?

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March 27, 2013

We had a good service tonight.  Pastor continued his sermon from last week on “Everybody Hates Homework” out of 2 Peter 1:1-11.  The things mentioned in these are things that have to be applied to our lives.  They won’t just pop into our lives with no work, but it is something that we as Christians will have to work at and apply them to our lives if we want them in our lives and if we want to be the Christian that the Lord wants us to be.  Preaching and praying at church is no substitute for studying and praying at home.  Faith is the first trait that is mentioned, but it is an important trait.  Faith is the root of the whole process, the root of all the traits that are mentioned in these set of verses.  Without faith, we cannot do put any of the traits in our lives.  Our faith is given to us by God and it comes from the reading of the Word of God.  God gave us the faith that we do have, but he wants us to exercise our faith and make our faith grow.  Faith with nothing to do is stagnant.  To our faith we need to add virtue.  Virtue is moral goodness, modestly, and purity.  Virtue creates high standards in our life.  If what we are thinking is not pure and has no virtue to it, we don’t need to think on those things.  We don’t need to fill our mind with impure thoughts.  What we think about is what we will soon become.  If we keep feeding our mind impure thoughts, we will soon not be able to get away from it, but it will control our thoughts day in and day out.  If we keep our mind pure, then our actions, our speech, and our walk will be pure, virtuous.  We should do our best to live a virtuous, pure life.  When we life a pure life, we are trying to be like Christ, which is what we should be doing.  We are a Christian so therefore, we should be a little Christ like.  As Christians, add to your faith virtue.  If we don’t add this to our lives, we are going to go nowhere spiritually.  Do your homework, and add these traits to your life.

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March 24, 2013

What a fantastic day we had today.  The Lord blessed us with 18 visitors this morning and 14 of them were on the bus.  We stand amazed at all that God is doing for us and through us.  What a blessing each visitor was to us today.

This morning our Sunday School lesson was on Barnabas and how that he encouraged others to cleave to the Lord.  The word cleave means to stay further; i.e. remain in place, with a person; figuratively, to adhere to, preserve in. – abide still, be with, cleave unto, continue in.  It also means to remain with, to continue with; to hold fast to; to remain still, tarry, stay.  As Christians we need to learn to cleave unto the Lord.  We need to be like glue and be stuck to the Lord so that nothing can take us away or make us not cleave to the Lord.  If we are stuck to the Lord, nothing will be able to make us come unglued from the Lord.  As we cleave to the Lord though, we need to be encouraging others to cleave to the Lord as well.  If we see another Christian struggling and being pulled by the devil to get him to lose his grip on the Lord, we need to step in and encourage them to keep cleaving to the Lord.  The devil will do his best to keep us from cleaving to the Lord so we need to encourage each other to cleave to the Lord.  The more we encourage each other the stronger we will become in cleaving to the Lord.  It will be harder for us to fall victim to the devils devices such as rebellion, a rotten attitude, bad friends, the world, hobbies, or bitterness will not be able to keep us from losing our grip on God.  Cleave to the Lord but also encourage others to cleave to the Lord as well.  Each of us needs encouragement.

This morning, Pastor preached on “When God Buts Into Your Life” out of Romans 5:6-10.  When God comes into our lives at salvation, He is butting into our lives and He is making a change in our lives that only He can make.  Good people and righteous people don’t need God because they think they are good enough or righteous enough to get into heaven.  Although; that is not the case because no one person has been or ever will be good enough or righteous enough to get into heaven.  God will but into a sinners life when they realize they are not good enough or righteous enough to get into heaven.  God is the only deliverer that can deliver us from our sins.  God’s love for mankind was based on sheer grace.  His grace was the only reason for him to deliver mankind for their sins.  Why?  Because He let His Only Son die for the sins of mankind, knowing that not everyone would get saved. God demonstrated His love to us as a father to his son.  If we are saved, God is our Heavenly Father and we are His child.  If you’re not saved, God isn’t your Father, but He wants to be your Father.  His armed are stretched open wide waiting for you to come to Him in salvation.  God’s love has no limit.  God’s love can overcome any sin committed by any man.  No man has ever sinned or will ever sin too much that God cannot save them.  God’s love is so great.  When He saves you He forgives and forgets.  He removes our sins as far as the east is from the west, and He buries them in the depths of the sea.  God can get over your sin.  He is willing and wanting to save anyone that will come to Him for salvation.  A sinner will get saved when God deals with them about their sin and they realize that they are a sinner.  If God ever buts in your life, He’ll make a big change in your life.  When you get saved, you are not the only one who will know it.  Your life will change and those that are around you will notice that you are different and that something has taken place in your life.  Has God ever butted into your life?  If not, let God but into your life and change your life forever.

Tonight Dr. Ron Young preached for us.  He preached out I John 2:15 on “Fatal Attractions.”  The things of this world are the trinkets that the devil throws in our face that are fatal to the Christian.  The devil knows when to pull out the trinkets in our lives to try to get us distracted from where we need to be with the Lord.  When we go after the trinkets of the devil we break God’s heart, but we also break our heart because we know and realize we have failed.  The most important time we need to watch for the devils trinkets is when we are not busy.  When we are no longer in the battle and we are not doing anything for God, the devil will make all the trinkets of his look very appetizing.  And, if we are not careful, we will go after the trinkets of the devil.  We as Christians should do our best to be busy for the Lord and for others.  When we are busy, it is harder for our minds to fill up with the thoughts that the devil tries to put in our minds.  We have to be careful though because when we start trying to satisfy people and not God, destruction is on the way in our lives.  When we follow after the trinkets of the devil, we are headed for destruction and we will fall if you do not realize what is happening in our lives.  The trinkets that the devil puts in our face are fatal.  They will not kill us physically, but they will kill us spiritually.  Is there a trinket in your life that the devil has placed there to where you are not what you need to be for the Lord?  If so, confess to God and get the trinket out of your life.  If you don’t get it out, it will kill you spiritually.  Don’t let that one thing make you miss out on doing God’s will for your life and being all that God wants you to be for Him.  Don’t give place to the devil!

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March 20, 2013

We had a good service tonight in church.  This sermon is the beginning of a series of sermons on this passage of Scripture.  Tonight was an introduction which will lead into the rest of the verses which will be dealt with next week and the weeks to follow.  Pastor preached on “Everyone Hates Homework” out of 2 Peter 1:1-10.  In school we all have to admit that we hated having to do homework.  We went to school for 8 hours but then the dreaded homework we had to do once we got home.  In the Christian realm, we as Christians have homework to do.  We can only get so much strength, help, and encouragement from coming to church Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night.  If we are going to be all that we need and should be for the Lord, we have to WORK on it at home.  If we do not do our homework, we will be blind and not be able to see afar off.  We won’t know when a trial comes our way and if we see it, it will be too late to do anything about it because we are not prepared and we are blind.  We can’t see spiritually to fight our way out of a battle or a trial.  Not only will we be blind, but we will have forgotten that we have even been saved.  If we do not add those things mentioned in verse 5-7 to our lives spiritually we will doubt our salvation.  If we continuously doubt our salvation, we will never go far in our lives spiritually.  When we stop praying and stop reading our Bibles on a daily basis we will begin to doubt our salvation.  God doesn’t want us to live our whole lives doubting our salvation.  Instead, He wants us to live victorious and know 100% sure that we are going to heaven.  When we got saved, God gave us the power that we need to live the Christian life like He wants us to.  We have the power to add everything God wants us to in our lives.  We have the power inside of us to live for God.  When we say we can’t do this, or we can’t do that, in a sense we are saying that we are not saved.  We can do all things through Christ, because He has given us the power to do so.  We need to remember the power that God has given us and start adding the things that are necessary in our lives spiritually so that we can be and do all that God wants us to do. 

Looking forward to next Wednesday night when Pastor continues his sermon on this portion of Scriptures. 

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March 17, 2013

What a great day we had today.  The Lord blessed us with 18 visitors today, with 8 of those coming on the van.  We also had baptism tonight for those that came forward in the past few weeks wanting to get baptized.  Pictures of the baptism will be posted a little later this week, but we will get them up and running soon.  Thank you for your patience in getting these posted. 

This morning for Sunday School we dealt with Jonathan and how he was a great friend to David.  We looked at some ways in how that we can be a friend that is friendly and will love at all times.  As Christians we need to be encouraging and being a blessing to the friends that we have.  Colossians 3:12-14 tell us things that we need to put on.  If we put these things on in our life, we will be a friend to someone and we will make and leave an impression on their life.  As a friend, we need to put on bowels of mercies.  When a friend has done us wrong, we need to forgive them and still be their friend.  We should show kindness by being gentle with our friends.  Helping them out and just being there for them when they are having a rough time.  Be a friend with a humble attitude.  Don’t put yourself down, but don’t build yourself up to being something you are not.  Be a servant, if they need help with something, we should do our best to help them if we can.  Meekness is something we need to show them as well, but it ties in with being humble and having meekness.  Also, we need to be longsuffering with our friends.  Be patient with them. Be willing to work with them and if they are going through a hard time, be patient with them.  They may want to talk to you, but they just don’t want to do it right then, so be patient with them.  Then we need to be forbearing with one another.  We need to at times hold up our friends.  When we see a friend struggling spiritually or having a hard time we need to do our best to bring them back up spiritually.  Then, we should forgive one other.  If they have done us wrong, we should forgive them.  Not only should we forgive, but we should do our best to forget.  Lastly, we need to have charity.  Charity will bring all these things together.  If we love our friends, we will do everything that was mentioned earlier.  What kind of friend are you?  Are you a good friend that leaves good impressions, or are you a bad friend that doesn’t leave an impression on someone’s life?

This morning, Pastor preached out of Matthew 24:36-44 on “Are You Ready?”  One day the Lord is coming back whether we are ready or not.  As it was in Noah’s days, so also will it be in the day that the Lord returns for His children.  The rain descended in Noah’s day even though the people of the day doubted that there would be rain upon the earth to destroy the earth with a flood.  Today’s society is so much like it was in the days of Noah.  Today, people doubt that the Lord is coming back; they doubt that there is a Hell and they doubt that there will be a judgment one day.  Just because people doubt it, that doesn’t mean it’s not going to happen.  What God says in His Word will come to pass.  It is up to us to believe and to be ready for His coming.  Problem is we live like He’s not coming back.  The Lord is coming back whether we believe it or not.  The signs are pointing that His coming is going to be soon.  Things are in order for the Lord’s return in power and glory.  Sin is running rampant in the world today just like it was in the days of Noah.  We live like we want to and we think everything is ok and that we can do whatever we want.  But, the truth of the matter is, everything is not ok and as Christians we cannot live and do whatever we want.  As Christians we need to be living our lives like He is coming back today.  The question to you today is, are you ready?  Whether saved or lost, are you ready for the Lord’s return?  If you are not saved, you need to get things settled with God and ask God to save you before it is too late to be saved.  If you are saved, are you living like He is coming back today?

Tonight was a different service as we had baptism.  We had two preachers tonight.  Bro. Adam Hewett preached first and then Bro. Justin Epley preached last.  Bro. Adam Hewett preached on “The Lord’s Crucifixion” out of John 14:16-30.  He put us in Jesus’ shoes and had us look at what all He went through on the cross for us.  He was betrayed by Judas, He was mocked by the crowd, He was rejected by His won and He was forsaken by the world He created and by His disciples.  Wonder how He felt that day when all of this was happening to Him.  He was dying for the sins of the whole world; past, present, and future sins.  He went through all He went through because of His love for mankind.  Whose fault was it that Jesus was crucified?  It was everyone’s fault.  Our sin is what nailed Jesus to the cross.  Will we be a faithful and wise servant that Christ can count on to get the message of salvation out and to tell His story to a lost and dying world? 

Bro. Justin Epley out of John 4:23 on “Do You Have What God Is Looking For?”  Jesus will weary Himself to find what He’s looking for.  He is looking for someone to love Him.  Jesus will do and go wherever He needs to go or do to get the one He knows will love Him.  He wants us to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength.  Jesus will also cross boundaries to get what He’s looking for.  Just as Jesus talked to the Samaritan woman at the well this day, God will accept anybody who will accept His love.  He will take us farther than we ever dreamed or image that we could go and do for Him.  To find what we are looking for in the things of God, we are going to have to move some things out of the way.  Some things are going to have to go out of our lives.  We will have to get rid of sin, remove all doubts out of the mind, our way of worship must be removed, and our outfits must be removed as well.  If these things are not removed out of the way, we won’t be all that God is looking for in us.  There will be hindrances in our lives, we won’t be able to go as far as God would want us to go because of the things that are in the way in our lives.  When God finds what He is looking for, He will find a spiritual person, an honest person, a person willing to leave things behind, a person who believes God is everything, and a person that satisfies Himself.  Do you have what God is looking for?

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March 13, 2013

We had a really good service tonight at church.  Pastor preached on “How Do You Affect The Lost?” out of Mark 6:19-21.  Who are we affecting that are lost?  Hopefully we can say that there is at least one person that we are affecting.  We ought to be affecting others by creating a fear in their lives.  Not a fear of us, but a fear of God a reverential fear.  Do others have a fear of God when we are around them?  Our lives ought to cause fear among those that we come in to contact on a regular basis.  Others ought to know that we are a just person.  We should be treating others fairly and truthfully.  When we speak to others, we should speak the truth.  The world is tired of liars; they want to hear someone speak the truth.  Our lives should be lived as if we had the characteristics of God.  We need to live a holy life towards those that are around us.  If we are going to reach the lost, we have got to have God in us.  We have to live a holy life.  If we live a holy life, we will have the characteristics of God in our lives.  We should be different on purpose.  We should be a peculiar person but one that is peculiar for the Lord.  The lives we live every day will impact a person, and it is impacting someone right now, we just may not know who it is that we are affecting.  We need to be real, not a fake Christian.  When the world sees us, they should see someone who is a true Christian, not just someone how is playing the game, or someone who doesn’t really care about the lost.  The world is observing us as a Christian, what kind of impression are we leaving on the world?  What kind of mark on you leaving on their lives?  What would this lost world say about you if you were to die tonight?  Would it be one that is making an impression on them to one day get saved, or is your life such a fake that they don’t want anything to do with Christianity?  We are being observed.  Who are you affecting today?  Hopefully you are affecting them in the right way, in a way that will lead them to Christ! 🙂

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March 10, 2013

We thank the Lord for the wonderful day we had today in His house.  We had 18 visitors this morning, 12 came on the van and the others were visitors that came on their own.  We are thankful for all the visitors.  Lately, we have had people come down and want to get baptized.  Over the past several weeks we have had people come down and say that they have gotten saved and that they want to follow the Lord in believer’s baptism.  What a blessing it is to see them come down and desire to be obedient to God and His command.  We will be having baptism next Sunday night, and we are looking forward to seeing all those that have come down get baptized. 

This morning for Sunday School, we deal with Nathan and him being God’s messenger.  Nathan, the prophet, is seen at the beginning, middle, and end of David’s reign.  Nathan gave counsel, advice, and reproof to David as he reigned over Israel.  The things Nathan told David were not always easy, but they were necessary and they were exactly what David needed to hear.  God’s messenger today is the Pastor of the church.  As Christians we should our pastor, God’s messenger, as a gift from God because that is exactly what he is.  We looked at what the pastor of a local church is supposed to do.  We saw how he is supposed to feed the flock.  He’s to help the congregation grown spiritually in the things of God by the messages that he preaches and then through any advice or counsel that he gives.  He should also oversee the church and the things that transpire in the church.  If things are out of order the pastor is the one that should look into things and get things straightened out.  God has given him the authority as pastor to do so.  He should also be an example to the believers.  We should be able to look at his life at his life and make it a pattern for our lives spiritually.  Also, he needs to preach the Word.  He should preach from the old KJV (as that is the only Bible) and should be ready to preach at any moment.  He needs to preach the messages that God lays on his heart.  Yes, the messages may hurt us at the time of the message being preached, but everything is for our good and for our betterment.  We can look back and be thankful that our pastor told us the truth.  We are helped, not hurt by the messages that are preached by the man of God.  Also, he is to give himself continually to pray and the ministry of the Word.  He should be in a constant state of prayer (but so also should we as Christians be in a state of prayer) and studying the Word of God.  He should be fulfilling all the duties and requirements that are given in the Word of God concerning the pastor.  Lastly, he should follow after righteousness.  He should live a pure life, a clean life, a right life.  He should live his life as clean as he can for God, but also for the congregation.  But in the same light, we as Christians should also be that way and follow after righteousness.  These are things that our pastor should be doing.  If you have a pastor that does those things, you should be thankful and thank God every day that you have a true man of God as your pastor.  Here at Antioch, we truly have a man of God.  We have a pastor that fulfills all the requirements of a pastor and then some.  He is truly a man of God, and we are thankful to God for the man of God that He has placed as our Pastor.  Thank you Pastor for being our Pastor, we are truly blessed.

This morning, Pastor preached on “What Are You Looking For In Life?” out of Titus 2:11-14.  We are all looking for something in life whether it is money, a job, a home, a family, a car, popularity, or peace.  There is emptiness on the inside of us that we try to fill and we try to fill it with the things that we are looking for.  But, the only thing that can fill the emptiness on the inside of us is the Lord Jesus Christ.  That spot is left for Him and for Him only.  Are you looking for God in your life?  Are you looking for that emptiness inside of you to be filled.  God can fill that emptiness.  There is a reckoning day coming, are you ready?  The Lord is coming back one day.  Then, are you tired of your life?  Are you tired of all the hurts and the aches and pain that won’t go away.  You try to get rid of them by drinking or using drugs or living an immoral life.  Those things will only take the pain away for a short time.  God can take the pain away, but you have to come to the point where you get sick and tired of yourself and ask God to come into your heart and save you.  Are you making preparations for eternity?  On earth we make all the preparations we can to try and live longer.  We try to eat healthy, we buckle up when we get in a car, and we know how to evacuate the house if there is ever a fire.  We do all those things to try to live longer, but many are not many the necessary preparations for eternity.  Your soul will spend eternity somewhere, whether it is Heaven or Hell.  Eternity will happen.  The question is, where you will you spend eternity?  If you are saved by the grace of God, you will spend eternity in Heaven, but if you are not saved, you will spend all of eternity in a place called Hell.  Lastly though, will you let the sacrifice of Jesus Christ’s death be wasted in your life?  Christ died for the sins of the whole world and that includes yours.  If you never accept Christ as your Savior, you are wasting His death on the cross in your life.  No, Christ did not die in vain because many have gotten saved.  His death is only wasted if you keep rejecting Him in your life.  What are you looking for in life?  Where will you spend eternity?  If you are not 100% sure where you will spend eternity, you need to get that settled as soon as you can. 

Tonight, Pastor preached out of Luke 22:7-20 and I Corinthians 11:23-30 on “A Memorial Service.”  He preached on the Lord’s Supper and what is speaks of to us as believers.  The Lord’s Supper is a serious time and should be taken seriously when partaken of.  We looked at the method in which it was performed.  The Lord first of all gave thanks.  He thanked God for His death though He hadn’t died on the cross yet.  He so wanted to save us that He was thankful that He was going to be able to die for the sins of the world.    He also showed His servant hood by serving the Lord’s Supper and by giving it out.  Christ became a servant.  If Christ became a servant, how much more should we today become a servant?  The Lord’s Supper spoke of the memory of the Lord’s death.  When we partake of the Lord’s Supper it is a time that we as Christians look back and remember all that the Lord went through and all that He did for us on the Cross of Calvary.  The Lord’s Supper was a peculiar meal with only two ingredients.  The Lord’s Supper consists of unleavened bread and grape juice (fruit of the vine).  The Lord’s Supper also speaks of the awful pain and suffering that He went through.  We can only image the physical and mental pain He went through that day on the cross.  He did it for the sins of mankind.  He counted it a joy to die for our sins.  What a Savior!!  Lastly, it speaks with some mandates.  We are only allowed to partake of the Lord’s Supper if we have been saved and baptized (or have come forth asking to be baptized).  We must also examine ourselves.  We must make sure that our sins are confessed and that things are right between us and the Lord and to make sure that we are genuine and that we are not playing the game of being a Christian.  The Lord’s Supper is important and we should make it a serious time.  After the message on the Lord’s Supper, we had the Lord’s Supper at our church. 

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March 06, 2013

Had a good time in church tonight.  Pastor preached a very good message tonight on “Baptism” out of Matthew 28:16-20.  Baptism is very important to us and we as Baptist need to understand the importance of baptism.  True baptism is when a person is immersed totally under the water.  It is not a sprinking, a pouring, or infant baptism.  Baptism is an outward showing of an inward change.  Baptism does not save anyone.  Baptism is always done after salvation, not before salvation.  It’s not for an outward sign that you’ll always be the same, but it’s an outward change that now that we have been saved, we will be different on the inside.  What’s on the inside will come out on the outside. Baptism is a commission done out of the local church and done no other way.  God has an order for things to take place and the church is where baptism is to take place, under the leadership of the Pastor.  To be baptized, there has to be a change in a persons life.  Being baptized is a mark of obedience to the Lord.  God commanded that we should be baptized.  We will go no where spiritually if we do not follow the Lord’s command in baptism.  Baptism is always desired by an obedient Christian.  One who wants to follow the Lord totally with their life.  To be the Christian that we want to be and that we need to be for the Lord, we have to be baptized.  We will go nowhere in our spiritual walk with the Lord until we get baptized.  Baptism is a pre-requisite for taking the Lord’s Supper and to become a member of the local church. We should get baptized after salvation to let others knows there is a change in our life.  Are you saved?  If so, have you been baptized?  If the answer is now, you should talk to your Pastor and get baptized.  You’ll go nowhere with Christ until you get baptized. 

Great message on baptism.  Looking forward to Sunday and all that the Lord has for our lives.  Don’t have a home church and live close by us?  Would love to have you come and visit with us. 

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March 03, 2013

We had a wonderful day in God’s house today.  The Lord is good to us.  We had 15 children this morning ride the bus to church.  What a blessing that was.  We had three new children to ride the bus, and we are thankful for all those that rode the bus this morning. 🙂

The Sunday School lesson this morning was on Noah and how that he was a preacher of righteousness.  Noah preached to the people of the land while he built the ark and warned them of the coming judgment.  No one listened to him except his family.  Other made fun of him, mocked him, and laughed at him, but he still stook for what was right.  He still continued to preach about the coming judgment that was coming upon all mankind.  Today we must warn about the coming judgment of what will happen to a person when they die.  We must warn them about Hell and do our best to win them the Lord so that they will not go to the place called Hell.  We must give the plan of salvation to everyone that we come in contact.  We looked this morning at the plan of salvation and how that we are all sinners.  We were all born in sin and have sinned in our life time, and because of our sin we should get Hell.  But, God sent His only begotten Son into this world to die for the sins of mankind.  Because of His death and resurrection we can go to Heaven, but we have to ask Him to wash away our sins and come into our hearts and live.  We have to be sorry for our sin and realize we cannot do anything to merit eternal life, but we must put our faith and trust in the Blood of Christ.  When we ask God into our heart, our heart becomes as white as snow.  Our sins are forgiven and forgotten by the Lord.  We have a clean plate before the Lord.  Our sins are removed as far as the east is from the west.  When we as the Lord so save us and come into our hearts and live, we have the promise of Heaven to look forward to.  We get to look forward to a mansion, a street of pure God, a crystal river.  It’s a place of no more pain, no more sickness, no more death, no more blindness, etc.  It is a perfect place and everything there will be perfect.  Once we get saved though, we don’t need to stay stagnant.  We need to grow in the things of God.  Just as we grow phsycially, we need to grow spiritually in the Lord.  We grow by prayer, reading God’s Word, going to church, and fellowship with the saints.  My question to you is, are you saved?  Do you know for sure that you are on your way to heaven?  If you are not 100% sure, you need to get it settled.  The Lord wants to save you.  He’ll save anyone.  Doesn’t matter what you done or who you are. God will save anyone that calls on His Name. 

This morning Pastor preached on “I Don’t Wnat To Drop My Corner” out of Mark 2:1-12.  The men in this story were determined to get help for the man that was laying on the bed being sick with the palsy.  They did not drop their corner, because they were desirous of getting help for this man.  They had a love and compassion for this man so much that nothing got in their way and caused them to stop,  or cause them to drop their corner.  We need to be like these four men.  We need to carry the corner.  We may not know who we are carrying the corner for, but we need to carry it the best that we can.  If we plan to carry the corner for someone, we need to have a listening ear.  We need to be sensitive to the presence and power of God.  The decison of the four men that day was based on where God was.  They heard Jesus was in the house and when they heard the news they carried the man to see Jesus.  We need to carry the corner for someone by bringing them to where God is.  We also need a longing desire in our heart.  If we are going to carry the corder we have to have a desire to see others get help from the Lord.  There is no telling who you are influencing or affecting in your life.  We need to desire to see others get help.  God gave us the ministries in our church to help hold the corner for someone’s life, and getting that someone to God.  The four men wants to see this man get help so much that they did whatever they had to do to get him help.  There must also be a loving devotion.  We need to love others.  If we continuously think of others that need help, we don’t quit, we won’t drop our corner.  Nothing discouraged the men that day from helping this man.  We shouldn’t allow anything in this world to discourage us from helping those that need help.  Yes, problems will arise in our lives if we try to help others, and hold the corner up.  Those problems will come our way to try to get to us to drop our corner.  But, our love for others should be strong enough that the problems we face we not discourage or or detous us from dropping the corner that we are holding.  You are holding the corner for someone today.  Are you going to keeping holding the corner, or are you going to let the corner drop?  The decision is ours, but we need to stand and love others more than ourselves and not drop the corner we are holding.  Others are depending on you!! 🙂

Bro. Stephen Weaver (member of Antioch Baptist Church, and director of our Bus Ministry) preached for us tonight.  He preached a really good message tonight.  He preached from Matthew 7:21-23 on “Playing Just Another Game.”  Too many people today are playing a game with their lives and with their souls.  The religious are playing a game.  They are playing the game of fooling people.  The problem is, they are not fooling God because God knows everything.  The religious know howo to play the game of prayer, praise, talk, singing, testifying and even preaching.  They are playing a game with their soul and if they do not get saved and quit playing that game, they are going to end up in Hell.  Not only are religious people playing the  game, but righteous people are playing the game as well.  They are saved, but they are playing the game of waisting their lives spiritually for the Lord.  They keep going around and around in circles and the enver go anywhere for God.  We are supposed to grow, not keeping going around and around in circles.  We need to quit playing games and get serious about our spiritual life and start growing in the Lord.  Lastly, the unrighteous or the rebellious person is playing a game as well.  The lost are playing a game with their soul.  They think they have more time to do business with God when in reality we don’t know what tomorrow holds.  They are playing a games with time and eternity.  If they keep playing the game, they will end up in Hell.  Quit playing a game with God.  God doesn’t like games.  Are you playing a game with God?  If so, you better stop playing now and either get saved, or get serious about your spiritual condition as a saved person. 

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March 01, 2013

Tonight is a sad night in the fact that the revival meeting has come to an end with Bro. Danny Bezet.  We have had a wonderful time since he has been here, and we have heard some wonderful messages this week.  Our prayer is that the revival doesn’t end just because it ended with Bro. Bezet, but that it will continue in the days, weeks, and months to come.  We pray that we don’t soon forget the messages we have heard this week.  We sure hated to see Bro. and Sis. Bezet leave tonight.  They have truly been a blessing to our church since they have been here. 

We had a lot of visitors again tonight, and the chruch was very crowded tonight with visitors.  Thank you to each visitor that came out and supported the meeting with us.  Special thanks goes out to the members of Antioch Baptist Church for their faithful to come each and every night of the meeting.  May the messages we heard this week continue to stir in our hearts and that we will continue to think on the messages we heard.

Bro. Bezet ended the meeting with another good message.  Bro. Bezet preached on “The Voice Of The Old Baptist” out of Matthew 3:1-12.  Today, many of the preachers that preach are compromising preachers.  Compromising preachers will not bring hope to a needy people.  The only thing that will help a needy people is for them to hear a true man of God that hasn’t compromised and that still believes in the King James Bible and preaches what the Bible has to say.  We need to get back to old-time, old-fashion preaching.  Something that we have gotten away from over the years.  John the Baptist was a baptist preacher.  He wasn’t a Methodist or a Catholic, but an old-fashion Baptist preacher.  He was a special prophet with a special message, a message to prepare the world for the Messiah.  Don’t listen to a Methodist preacher, or a Catholic preacher, or a so-called preacher on the television.  Listen to a man of God, a Baptist, one that stands for what is right and brings the message of salvation to those that are in the congregation.  Be like John and have a voice that calls for repentance.  Just as John called for repentance, preachers and pastors today need to return to the message of salvation and that of repentance to sin.  We need the call of sinners to repent.  If there is no repentance in a persons life, than there will be no true change in their lives. When a person repents of their sin, their talk, their thoughts, their habits, their dress, and their attitude will be totally different.  Those that repent again sin will stand against it.  Preacher, Pastors, preach repentance to those in your congregation as repentance will get the job done.  Pastors need to preach with a loud voice, a voice of authority.  Don’t be afraid to say what the Bible has to say.  Say it loudly and say it authoritatively so others know you mean business and they know what the Bible has to say about a matter.  The voice was also a lonely voice.  When a preacher or pastors preaches for what is right, they will be left alone to themselves.  Take courage and preach against sin and the things that are wrong from the Bible.  Preach against Sodomites, immorality, divorce, rock music, laziness, lieing, cheating, rebellion, drunkenness, drugs, etc.  Preach against it, and the Lord will help you and stand by your side as you deliver the messages.  The voice of John was a different voice.  His voice was the one who hated sin but loved God.  Preacher, pastor, have a different voice than all the others in this world.  Preach the love of God, but also preach how God hates sin.  Let your voice be a voice that’s loving and is a soul-winning voice.  Be one that cares about the souls of others and where they will spend eternity.  A real preacher, will point others to Jesus, he will give the Gospel to everyone he comes in contact with.  Preacher, Pastor, what kind of voice do you have?  Do you have the kind of voice that was preached about tonight?  Member what kind of pastor do you have?  Do you have one that is a God called, old-fashioned, Baptist preacher?  If so, thank God for your man of God and stand behind him and encourage him to continue to be the man of God that the Lord would have him be.  If you don’t, go get a man of God as your pastor.  Someone who has the voice that God is looking for in a man of God.

We thank God for our Pastor as he is a man of God.  He has the voice that God wants a man of God to have.  He preaches straight and he preaches what the Bible has to say.  He preaches about the love of God, but he also preaches about the hatred of God towards sin.  He preaches that we need to repent of our sins and either get right with God, or get saved.  Thank you Pastor for being a real man of God.   

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February 28, 2013

We had a very good crowd tonight at church.  The place was almost at full capacity tonight.  Had lots of visitors from different churches in the local area. 

What a message Bro. Bezet preached tonight.  Seriously, it was a message you had to pay attention to if you wanted to get help tonight.  It was also a message that you need to listen to about 10 times to get everything out of it that you need to.  What an amazing sermon tonight.