I encourage you to check out Chad and Linda Phillips missionary vidoe at phillips4cambodia.com. It is a youtube fed video, so you will need to be able to play video to see it. But what a blessing! We are praying for you, Chad and Linda!
What a great day we had a church yesterday! I praise the Lord for the spirit of our church members–each person excited about seeing souls saved and lives changed this fall.
The Bible says in Proverbs 11:30, “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life: and he that winneth souls is wise.” Winning souls to Christ is about sharing the Gospel message from the Word of God. I am looking forward to sharing the Gospel of Christ with more people this fall than ever before. I am also looking forward to great things this fall for our church family as “the Lord adds to the church daily….”
God bless you and I hope you have a great Monday! Don’t forget to pray for Tony for a job, and for JD, Pam, and Doti who are all sick, and for Greg’s cancer and Pete’s knee.
Monday night, September 7, 2009, Noma Thingstad went to be with the Lord. She fought a brave battle with double pneumonia and congestive heart failure. At the end of that battle, she had been ravaged by the sickness and the treatments for the sickness. She was only a shell of who she was before. But that is not the way we will remember her. We will take great delight in remembering the days of strength that she had and her spunk and spirit. At the end death robs us of our life on earth, but cannot take away our life in heaven. Noma was a child of God and nothing can take that away. She will be loved and remembered for many years–not as she died, but as she lived.
Tonight, Pastor Jesse Hobgood (my father-in-law) spoke on Psalm 118:24, “This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”
He reminded us of the fact that each day we need to “re-joy,” (as he called it). We must make a concious choice to joy in the goodness of the Lord. He referenced Psalm 68:3, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits….”
As he illustrated, most Christians are loaded down daily with blessings from God (i.e. life, seeing, hearing, taste, smell, love, church, America, family, etc.), but cannot come up with a single thing to rejoice about. These are all things that we wake up with every day yet we must re-joy about them.
And when should we re-joy? Answer…”Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.“ Phillipians 4:4
Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? Jeremiah 23:29
I am glad that I have a guide that stands the test of time. You see, the Word of God has not just stood the test of criticism, but censorship, and even attempted destruction. But it keeps on…never wavering. The critics come and go, but the Bible stays. I think this poem sums it up. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
The Anvil
Last eve I paused before a blacksmith’s door
and heard the anvil ring the vesper chime.
And looking in, I saw old hammers on the floor,
Worn by the beating years of time.
“How many anvils have you had,” said I,
“To wear and batter all these hammers so?”
“Just one,” said he, then with a twinkle in his eyes,
“The anvil wears the hammers out you know.”
And so I thought, the anvil of God’s word,
For ages skeptic blows have beat upon.
Yet though the noise of falling blows was heard
The anvil is unharmed—the hammers gone!
-Source unknown
Have you ever sat down to a meal and when the food was set before you, you knew something was not right? It is the wise person who tests before tasting. If it is bad the damage will already be done.
Ephesians 5:10 says, “Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.” We should test or measure our activities first by what is acceptable to the Lord. Think of what Romans 12 says, “…be not conformed to this world: but…prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
It has been more than once that I finished a meal and realized that everything was not okay. I’m no cow…I don’t enjoy tasting my meal a second time.
It is said that many of the Indian chiefs would have a person who would test their food by chewing it ahead of time. This previewing of the food kept any damage from happening to the chief. God wants us to test our deeds ahead of time by measuring them against the Word of God to discern His will and to keep us from damage. That way you can rely that what you partake of will do you good and there will be no regrets!
Today was our I Love America Sunday and there was activity all over campus. The primary class was learning about Daniel and the Lions’ Den complete with lion mask crafts.
Our junior church has been working together to earn enough points over the summer to have a Game Time after the lesson. Today was that day. (Thanks Bro. Josh and Mrs. Nina for your great ideas in Children’s Church.)
We rounded out the day with our annual ice cream social where we had homemade and store-bought icecream of every flavor with the fixin’ s. As you can see, we also had some fun.
It is great to be with God’s people enjoying His goodness.
I am so glad as a pastor that God has raised up faithful men in our church who can rightly divide the Word of Truth. This process of seeing God use men to teach what they have been taught is the work of the ministry.
2 Timothy 2:2 says, “And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” The last few days I have been preaching at the church that I grew up as a teenager. It was a place that committed God’s truth to me. Now God has allowed me to be the pastor of McKee Road Baptist Church and commit to other faithful men. God has blessed us with men that can preach the Word in my absence. I am so thrilled that we are seeing the work of the ministry happen right before our very eyes!
June 27, 2009
Everything went well at the yard sale. We were able to raise nearly $900 for the youth to go to camp. What a blessing! Look for more fundraisers to come soon.
Don’t forget the youth are having a fundraiser toward camp tuition at the church in the morning. There are many very nice items. Come support the sale by helping and/or purchasing. The sale will start at 6:00 am. If you would like to bring items for the sale, someone will be there at 5:30 am. Please pray that the sale goes well and that the Lord will bless this fundraiser greatly!