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"Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms."
1 Peter 4:10 NIV

 

     What you say, how you act or react, where you go, and how you react to good or difficult circumstances have an effect on other people, even when you do not see or hear another person.  Whether you are at home, school, work, playground or church, other people may see you when you don’t see them.  Each person regardless of age has a sphere of influence even when we do not realize the importance of that sphere.  People watch you and me to see and try to understand who we are.  It has been stated that each person has a three foot circle of privacy, and we do not like for other individuals to cross that circle of privacy.  When a person gets to close to an individual, one may see a person move in order to maintain their three foot circle of privacy.

     Christians are constantly being watched and observed to see if they are real.  Non-Christians want to see authentic Christians who live and practice their faith in daily life.  Today, there are many one day a week Christians who live a totally different life style on Monday through Saturday.  The buss word for this young generation is: “authenticity”.  They can see and spot a fake very quickly.  The young generation wants and desires real authentic Christians to love, care, talk, share and come close in order to know real Christians.  

     The millennial generation is beginning to see the great values of the builder or World War II generation.  It was the builder generation that made this country so great.  The builder generation was committed to God, family and country.  They made, with God’s blessings and protection, the great American dream.  Today, grandparents and great grandparents have a great responsibility and opportunity to help this young generation to know the real truth about God, and our faith in Christ, and to pass on the true Christian values.  So many individuals of the builder generation are dying.  Many will leave a will for their family concerning financial and material values, but forget the main will or testament.  The greatest value that a Christian can leave his or her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren is a moral or ethical will.  A moral or ethical will declares the values that made you who and what you are.  You pass these values down to the next generation.  A Christian should not pass from this world into eternity without giving your future generations a legacy to know and be thankful for in the years to come.

     A person does not need to wait to pass on your values.  In the next few weeks, many seniors will be graduating from high school, and there will be many family gatherings.  These gatherings could be a great time for a grandparent or great grandparent to share and pass on your values to the next generation.  A grandchild loves gray hair and respects it.  They are looking, listening, wanting, and needing a special touch of the grandparent’s hand.  Don’t miss this opportunity to make your senior grandchild know the great legacy of God’s grace in your life.  Share your story.  The grandchild would love to listen and know the real you.  One extra special touch would be of great benefit in your senior grandchild’s life and that would be to spiritually bless your grandchild.  In Genesis 49, Jacob blesses his sons and grandchildren.  It could be the greatest blessing that you as a grandparent could do for your graduating senior grandchild. 

     Sunday morning at the 11:00 a.m. worship service First Baptist Church will be honoring and recognizing the 2009 graduating seniors.  It is a very special time in the life of each senior and their family.  Please be in prayer for this service. 

     Dr. Anderson will be here this Sunday to lead the church in worship.  First Baptist Church is blessed to have Dr. Anderson as our interim pastor.  Please share your smile and a kind invitation to a friend to come with you this Sunday to worship our risen Lord.  The greatest outreach tool in a non-Christian culture is for a Christian to personally invite a friend or family member to attend church with them.   Have a wonderful weekend and see you Sunday. 

God bless you.

Good morning FBC Family. Today is Wednesday so let’s get right to the important news. The meal for tonight looks like a “Chicken Fried” sampler. You will have a choice of chicken fried steak, chicken fried chicken, or chicken strips and the usual side dishes. We should have a crowd since anything fried tends to be a real drawing card. I told Laura Ruth one day that she could get a crowd by frying peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!!!

I love Wednesdays and all the “busyness” that happens. Our staff members spend a good portion of the day doing the final preparations for their respective mid-week ministry areas. The “busyness” that I am referring to is all done for the “Kingdom business” that takes place on Wednesday evenings. We do Wednesdays to honor the King of Kings and Lord of Lords which is really why we do everything that we do. There is something for everyone on Wednesday nights and if you are not taking advantage, you are missing a blessing.  I am usually in the Prayer Meeting group in the Chapel on Wednesday and must confess that this is the time of the week that I feel like I am being fed since Sunday mornings are such a hectic time for me.

This coming Sunday we will honor our high school seniors during the 11:00 a.m. service and with a family luncheon right after. Dr. Anderson will preach the 8:30 Sunday morning message and the evening service and Brian Brewer will preach the message to the graduating seniors. This is always a special time in the life of the church and in the lives of these students. Each year I realize how much older I am getting because I can remember when many of these students were born. It has been a joy and privilege to see these individuals grow up and mature. We look forward to seeing God’s plans for their lives develop in the coming years.

During our staff meeting on Monday we discussed among ourselves the need to daily pray for the entire process of calling our new pastor, whoever he might be and however long it may take. I think most of us (staff) realize that we are doing a good job praying for our Search Committee and for Dr. Anderson but have possibly fallen short of praying for the new pastor, his family, and the church where he is serving now. We feel so strongly about this that we will have a special emphasis at the end of the Sunday night service to do this. If you are not here, you will miss out on another blessing. I hope you have a great Wednesday and will be here tonight………Tommy

Good morning!

Verse of the month:  I Peter 4:10

In the Kidzone Bible Study lesson this past Sunday our main point was “We Worship God When We Serve Him.” Our scripture verse was I Peter 4:10 which is the church’s verse for the month – “Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms.”  The teaching example given last Sunday used a piano keyboard.  When only a few keys are played, the music is not at all what it could and should be.  The lesson was referring to the church, when everyone serves, and all the keys are played the music is grand and beautiful. 

When it comes to serving, we should actively look for God given opportunities to serve.    We should be excited to see how God can use us for His purpose to build the Kingdom.   To be used by God is so grand.  Shouldn’t we all desire it, long for it, and seek after it?  Reaching our community for Christ and building the Kingdom should be our main focus and desire as a church and individually.

Our purpose Sunday with the VBS cards was to give each one of you an opportunity to serve, an opportunity to worship God with your lives as you serve Him by reaching out to our community.   Our desire is that every member had an opportunity to be used by God during VBS by planting seeds in the young hearts of children and play a vital role in their decisions to follow Christ.

Yes, the cards were something new and different.  The invitation to serve was offered to the whole church body, not just the ones who previously served and who were called by phone.  There are many options on the card including pray for VBS, contact a family on a follow up visit, bake cookies, etc…there was something on the card that everyone and anyone could do. 

Are we a church that wants to be “grand and beautiful” as we serve by reaching out to our community?  I do hope so! 

The next few weeks the invitation to serve cards will be available in the pews, the Welcome Center and all around the church.  As we plan for over 600+ kids many of these kids may never attend church except for VBS.  Each family represented are is willing to bring their kids to us. We will need 200+ people willing to serve during the week, and the whole church united in prayer, expecting God to use us to do His work in a grand and beautiful way! 

Brit

One of the times when we see Jesus angry (Mark 11) was when He realized that the Temple had become a place for personal gain and selfish indulgence.  In some ways it had been reduced to a simple market place, or even a flea market...  I don't think the Lord has anything against First Monday Trade Days at Canton, but I certainly think He wants our worship gatherings to have a different focus.  At that moment, Jesus quotes from the Scriptures...from the prophet Isaiah...saying, "My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations..."

I don't think His heart has changed one bit...He would still desire that we come in a spirit of prayer each/every time we gather.  He longs for His people to hunger for Him, confessing our desperate need for Him to intervene in our lives.

Last Thursday, we had a small group gather over the lunch hour to join in the National Day of Prayer...and what a sweet time of prayer it was!  We were reminded that we can all too easily get caught up in the busy-ness of life, and sometimes we forget the most important thing(s), in this case - prayer!  As a minister, it seems that I can get so busy planning ministry that I forget to pray for it...as a father...as a husband, I too often do the same.  So, God is awakening wihtin my spirit the call to pray.

I encourage you to set aside a regular time to pray for First Baptist in the days ahead.  There are several groups that meet...some on Monday afternoon, some on Wednesday morning...to pray specifically for the big decisions facing the Body...the pastor search process, the church leadership, etc...  Maybe you can't meet at one of these assigned times, but what if you decided to clear out a half hour each week just to get away and seek God's heart in these (and other) matters.

Several have shared a similar burden, so it seems that the Lord is stirring some prayer warriors to hit their kness and that's always a good thing!  I don't know if we need to start a new prayer ministry/program as much as be reminded that prayer should be infused into/over EVERY ministry/program that we undertake...  If you serve in any form of leadership, would you ask the Lord to reveal ways you can lead out in a growing prayer movement within the Body here at FBC...?

I wonder if the Lord ever looks upon all our work and activity here at FBC...busy and frantic...much like the Temple must have looked in Luke, chapter 11...and somehow His heart is grieved as He would much rather see His people acting as a house of prayer...

Could it be that He is waitng for us to come before Him with brokeness, confessing any sin (private or corporate) which may be hindering His full blessing, and hear us cry out, in desperation, communicating our desire for Him to lead and guide every step we take...

Oh Lord, God...hear our prayers, heal our land...restore!  2 Chronicles 7:14

Praying!

brian