A Thanksgiving Prayer from Rick Warren

A Prayer of Thanksgiving to God

"Because of Jesus, I now can live a life of joy, purpose, peace, and love."

God, I have so much joy right now, knowing that you decided to send Jesus to earth so I could be saved from a life of hopelessness and sin and be a peacemaker for you. I recognize in this moment that you saved my life when you sent Jesus, and that because of Jesus, I now can live a life of joy, purpose, peace, and love. I hold onto that hope today. When I look at the world around me, I see so many people who are struggling with stressful, meaningless, chaotic lives without loving, caring relationships. That was my life before you saved me. To say I am grateful doesn't begin to express what I am feeling. I just know I have a sense of meaning and peace I have never had before and could never get on my own strength - and I am full of amazing happiness.

I feel like celebrating right now, knowing that I am now on your side, instead of being at war with you. I know that with you I will never again be lost and alone. I am a new person today, and I recognize what I have just been given. I pray that, as I continue to grow spiritually every day, I will come to understand everything you have just accomplished in my life. By faith, I know I can trust you to be in my life today - and every day. I know I can count on you when things get tough, and knowing I will spend eternity in your presence gives me such hope!

Thank you, Jesus, for the peace you have given me. I pray you will use me as an instrument of that peace so I can help my family, friends, and the world in which I live. I feel so different right now, knowing that you and I are now OK, knowing I am on the road to a deeper understanding of what it means to live for an audience of one. I ask you to help me pray when I become upset so that I will have your peace in any situation I face - good or bad. Help me to get ready to help other people as others have already helped me. I want to make a difference in this world, and I want to help everyone I meet have the same hope I now have. I can't do this alone, so I ask you to make me a peacemaker.

Thank you for loving me. Thank you for saving me. And thank you for giving me a peace I have never known before. May everything I do, from this day on, reflect these same qualities as I tell others what you just did for me. I am full of anticipation at the kind of life I can now live.

I love you, Jesus!

November was an incredible month

We just finished a fabulous month at FBC. We celebrated all month our tenth year in Mesquite. Each week we did something different to remember the past and start to prepare for the future. I introduced the Decade of Destiny material from Saddle Back and we held a "One service morning". We brought everyone together for one service and as we started we ask anyone that comes to the 6 PM service to stand, then we ask anyone that attends the 8:AM to stand and then we ask the 10:45 folks to stand and shake the hands of those around them. What a wonderful time of celebration. We mixed videos and pictures from the past with songs spread out through the service. A real change from our normal service and I received a number of text messages telling me how much everyone enjoyed the day.
Thanksgiving was special as we all gathered for a special dinner at the church on Sunday afternoon followed by music. The last Sunday of the month we had three guest speakers, The mayor, Susan Holecheck, Tim Orell our wal-mart greeter that has a wonderful testimony and Gladys Smith from our local thrift store. Each one blessed our hearts with words of encouragement and scripture.

The End of Summer

Summer is over, many of the kids are back to school and we are getting ready for the next steps of our journey. The Summer started out with the buying of our church building. It became obvious that God was at work in that process.
Summer has given us time to reflect on so many things that God has done and as we prepare for our 10 year celebration I know it will be fun to look back at what He has done.
On a personal note, Vicki and I had some wonderful time with our grandchildren. We were able to take 4 of them on an exciting 4 day tent camping adventure. I call it an adventure because the first night in a new tent we had hail, rain, thunder, wind and lighting, all night long. It will be a while before any of us forget that adventure. We just got back from a week in Florida, it rained everyday off and on and really added to the humidity. The time was spent with family and that was great. Vicki does not get to see her family but once or twice a year so those times are always special.
We are looking forward to the return of our snow birds, they will be back in time for our big 10 year celebration in November.
The month of November will be full of celebrating what God has done in the last 10 years, but more importantly what God is preparing us for in the next 10 years. Don't miss November! Each week will be focused on the many things we have to be thankful for.
Thank you for stopping by and reading my blog, I will try to be more diligent in keeping it current. Please drop me a note.

MILDSTONE AT FIRST BAPTIST

This week saw God once again working at FBC. On Friday, I joined the trustees at Fidelity Federal to sign the final documents to purchase our building at 700 Hardy Way. For 5 years we have paid a monthly lease payment of $6000.00 and with the provisions from God we will reduce our monthly payment by 1500.00 and all the monies going into the building is now equity for the church. We saw God's hand in this in so many ways as money continue to come in to pay the closing costs and within a short time we were able to pay the total amount without having to take from our general fund. Praise God.

Today we celebrated Mothers Day. We recognized all the mothers, but paid special attention to our oldest and youngest mother by giving them special flowers. Our children's choir sang two special songs for the mothers today while we celebrated a Baptism and Hernando Rodriquez was baptized after giving his life to Jesus last week. What a day of celebration..

Resurrection and Birthday celebration!

What a full week, Sunday started with the wonderful celebration of our risen Saviour. God Blessed us as we had 3 services. We saw a lot of first time guests and even some folks we hadn't seen for a while. 6 people raised their hands at the end to express there commitment to praying a life changing prayer. 6 more we will see in eternity. The Friday before, the church family surprised me for my birthday by holding a surprise party. I was truly caught by surprise as Vicki tricked me to go to the church for something else and when we arrived the parking lot was full and I knew something was up. What a great night of food, fun and celebration.
Monday was my actual birthday and my daughter Brooke made it a very special day starting with breakfast, shopping at Bass Pro Shop and ending with dinner at PF Changs. What a great day. I saw my Son and his family, Brooke and her family and my mother. Nice day of being reminded that I am getting old.....

24 Hour Prayer Vigil

Another wonderful week at FBC. The prayer vigil saw 50 family members sign up to pray for one hour. The 24 hour vigil started at 6PM on Friday night and ended Saturday at 6PM. The focus of this prayer vigil was to pray for all the Christian churches in the community while lifting up to the Lord the needs of the family. The churches participating in the prayer vigil and the churches prayed for during the 24 hour period was wonderful. The Churches showed unity in the community to join together for focused prayer. The Lutheran Church, The Presbyterian Church, The Methodist Church, Christian Community, Graceway Alliance, Living Waters and FBC. We ask every person praying to lift up the pastors and there spouses, the ministries for each church, and the upcoming Easter services. God answers prayers and we know that God will be glorified in the upcoming days.

Celebration Continues

March 7th, What a wonderful week. We started the paper work to finalize the purchase of our building, 10 people finished and signed the membership covenant on Saturday and 10 children took part in the new children's choir that met and rehearsed on Saturday. Sunday was a day of celebration, both services were well attended and as we move toward Easter, we are getting excited about this wonderful event in the life of the church.

THE VOTE IS IN! WE BUY

FEBRUARY 28TH WILL GO DOWN AS A HISTORICAL DAY IN THE LIFE OF FIRST BAPTIST. THE FAMILY MET TOGETHER IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING THE FIRST SERVICE AND WE VOTED ON WHETHER TO PURCHASE THE BUILDING WE ARE IN OR TRY TO FIND ANOTHER LEASE. WE HAVE BEEN IN THIS BUILDING FOR 5 YEARS AND THE LEASE RUNS OUT APRIL THE FIRST. WE HAVE BEEN IN PRAYER AND NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE OWNERS AND PRESENTED TO THE FAMILY AN OFFER WHERE WE WILL REDUCE OUR MONTHLY PAYMENT BY 1500.00 WHILE TAKING AN EQUITY OWNERSHIP OF THE BUILDING. THE VOTE WAS 100% YES TO BUY THE BUILDING. WE WILL NOW INVEST IN THE PROPERTY FOR THE FUTURE. GOD IS FAITHFUL.

Beginning the New Year with Fun and Song

January 31st was our first "Potluck and Music Night" of 2010. God was glorified as 60 people gathered to eat and get to know one another. After filling ourselves with some wonderful food, we went into the sanctuary and praised God through song. Eight more people came to sing praises bringing the total for the evening to 68. I enjoyed the evening with Sue Solstad and I leading the music with guitar and vocals, while Joy so graciously and beautifully played the piano. After some coaxing by Me, the kids came up on stage and sang "How Great is Our God", and Melody Pemberton blessed us with a song she had written. A wonderful time was had by all and God was definitely glorified. A special "Thank you" to those who brought the food, drinks, and desserts as well as to those who led the music.