Pastors Corner

Excitement is Everywhere.

2012-01-19T14:14:00.001-08:00

I love the excitement here at FBC as we get ready for the 40 Days in the Word. Everyone is serving with a since of expectation and excitement. Our In-Touch Ministry is ramping up for a solid campaign strategy of reaching out to those who are not in a small group. The event coordinator has time lined everything that will take place and is making sure all the deadlines are met. What a great team I have. I am a blessed pastor.

WALK ACROSS THE ROOM AT THE MEN'S BREAKFAST

2012-01-14T10:28:00.000-08:00

The men of FBC had a chance to see a clip from Bill Hybels from his series "Walk across the room" We will be looking at different parts in the upcoming breakfasts. The message is we need to reach out to people in our community, neighborhoods, and in social settings.
The breakfast was great, the food, the fellowship and hearing from John S. made the morning very special. As usual the food was fantastic. Tom B. closed the breakfast with an emotional plea for each of us to reach out to our brothers and sisters that may not be like us. He shared some of his past and his passion for family members of other races. He again made the point we need to walk across the room and meet those who are different, and invite them to be a part. I am looking forward to our next breakfast together.

GIVE GOD YOUR FEARS.

2012-01-13T09:50:00.001-08:00

Have you considered what would happen in your life if you had someone to give your fears to? We love to share our worries with everyone, we share all the good things that happen in our lives, as well as the bad. But what about the Fear that strangles some to a life of pain and immobility. According to God's word “And he did rescue us from mortal danger, and he will rescue us again. We have placed our confidence in him, and he will continue to rescue us.” (2 Corinthians 1:10 NLT, 2nd edition) God is ready to take our fears, our hurts and our pain. We must first trust that his word is true. We are looking at the truth of his word as we continue to answer the question. "How do I know I can trust the Bible" If you have ever ask yourself that question, I pray you will join us on Sunday morning, or on our website to discover the reliability of the Bible.

HOW RELIABLE IS THE BIBLE?

2012-01-11T06:54:00.000-08:00

Howreliable is the Bible? Examine the evidence and seek the truth. During this week’s message I will lookat three tests that Historians apply to ancient books to determine the truth.1. Do we have reason to believe the writer cares about truth? The “HonestyTest” 2. Do we have reason to believe the facts have been passed faithfullythrough time? The “Telephone Test”. 3. Is there evidence outside the documentthat supports the internal claims. The“Corroboration Test”. I hope you will join us for this comprehensive study. Sunday morning at 8:00 AM and 10:45 AM, or on the the website.

Expect God to Answer Your Prayers

2012-01-07T18:35:00.000-08:00

Saturday, January 07, 2012

Expect God to Answer Your Prayers
by Rick Warren

“If you want to know what God really wants you to do, ask him ... but if you don’t ask in faith, don’t expect the Lord to give you any solid answer.” (James 1:5-6 TLB)

God wants to direct you in life, but two things need to line up: You have to ask the right person, God, and you have to ask with the right attitude — in faith, expecting an answer.
Have you ever asked God for something and didn’t expect to get it? That’s why you didn’t get it. God works in our lives according to faith. So many times we say, “God, please guide me!” and we walk away not even waiting for guidance. We just immediately start to work. We say, “God, I want you to give me wisdom; help me make the right decision.” But we don’t really expect him to do that. We think it all depends on us.
God has promised to give us wisdom, if we will ask. Wisdom is seeing life from God’s point of view. Wisdom is the ability to make decisions the way God makes decisions.
Think about this: God never makes a bad decision. He never makes a mistake. He says if we trust him and listen to him, he will guide us. But we must ask in faith.

Welcome to 2012 "Delve in 12"

2012-01-05T15:27:00.000-08:00

As we begin this wonderful new year, I am reminded of how faithful God is to His own. 2011 is over, we are a strong, healthy group of believers that have lived our lives for Him. We saw 20 people attend and commit to our membership class in 2011. We saw a number of new families move into our community in a terrible economic time. So we look forward to 2012..The theme of the this year 2012 is going to be the year of delving into Scripture. The definition for delve is to carry on intense and thorough research. To dig deeper. This year we will dig deeper into Gods word.
In February we’re going to kick off the New Year with a series called Forty Days in the Word. I’m very, very excited about that, probably the second most I’ve been excited about anything since Forty Days of Purpose because I want you to know how to study the Bible.

Where does the Time go?

2011-10-24T21:04:00.000-07:00

I was reminded this week that I have not put anything on this blog since July. My first question is where does the time go? I was sure I updated just a few weeks ago. As I get older a few weeks turns into a few months.

God has kept me busy and blessed me and the church family with so much since July. We have had guests every week, some from out of town just passing through and some like the couple Sunday that said they have lived in Mesquite for 6 years and have been going to come to church, but have been busy. (Bet they haven’t been on there blog for a while!). I continue to be amazed at how people view church. I have to remind the church family that we are not a time share. They are welcome every week, not just once a month or once every 6 months. I guess some people feel like if they show up every once in a while that they are doing there duty to God. On the other hand after they sat through one of my long messages they may feel like they have suffered long enough for a while and need the time to unwind. I guess we will leave that between them and God.
Vic and I have recently completed 11 years in this ministry, the one that we said we would do for 5 years and then move to another area. We have learned that there is God’s plan and there is our plan! So far God’s plan is that we continue to be blessed by pastoring a wonderful church 100 miles from our main home. He has given us so much to make the journey so worth while. Each week we give God thanks for all he has done for us and praise him for the opportunity that He has given us both.

Recently I ran into a group of people who came against God a few years ago and tried to destroy His church. I once again was so thankful that God had taken these folks out of the fellowship and allowed us to grow in unity instead of the dysfunction of a few who felt like they knew better than God how a church should be ran. They are now in there fifth year of trying to do it their way. It is a very sad situation and our hearts hurt for people who will not admit that they have sinned against God and continue to try and build a church on there own strength. Again there is God’s plan and there is our plan. I am grateful that God is still in control at FBC and that He will build His church and each one of us must see it as a privilege to serve.

As we get ready for the holiday season, I am looking forward to seeing what He will do in the upcoming months. We are planning our annual Thanksgiving dinner and a time of putting the Thanks back into Thanksgiving. As soon as that is over we will be getting ready for our Christmas Celebration. This year will be a great challenge as Christmas eve is on a Saturday! We will have our Candlelight Service and then do only one service on Sunday.
Stay tuned and I will try and be more diligent in keeping this post current.

2011-07-14T16:04:00.000-07:00

You Have the Power to Say No
by Rick Warren

“So, dear brothers, you have no obligation anymore to your old sinful nature to do what it begs you to do.” Romans 8:12 (LB)

I don’t know about you, but I have to admit there were a lot of things I could not say ‘no’ to before the Holy Spirit came into my life. I wanted to say ‘no’, but I didn’t.

It really doesn’t matter what you call them, but we all have compulsions, habits, lusts, drives, desires or attractions that make us feel like we have no choice but to do them. You just can’t help yourself. You just can’t say ‘no’.

But if you’ve accepted Jesus Christ into your life, you can say ‘no’. Romans 8:9 says, “You are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are now controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ living in them does not belong to Christ” (NLT).

Now you will still have those desires. But the Holy Spirit will give you the power to say ‘no’ to them; you do not have to satisfy those desires. This is the difference the Spirit of God makes in you. This is how God sets you free from your compulsions.

The worst kind of slave is being a slave to your own natural desires. Some people say, “Well, if it’s natural, why should I limit it?” A lot of things seem natural. It’s natural to be self-centered, but acting on that desire might not be good for your kids or your spouse.

Natural doesn’t mean it’s always good. I might have a natural desire to cheat you out of all your money, but that doesn’t mean I should do it. But when I’ve accepted Christ into my life, I have the Holy Spirit to help power my decisions and say ‘no’ to the natural and ‘yes’ to the spiritually mature choice.

Remember What Jesus Did For You

2011-07-12T07:36:00.000-07:00

Remember What Jesus Did For You by Rick Warren

“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. For the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you through Christ Jesus from the power of sin that leads to death.” Romans 8:1-2 (NLT)

Shame is a destructive emotion. It is a form of condemnation that can rob you of happiness in life and tear you down.

God doesn’t want you to go through life with a load of guilt and shame. That’s why he sent Jesus Christ to set you free.

Jesus won the victory for you through his death and resurrection, so if you want to live a life free of shame, you need to remind yourself daily of what Jesus did for you.

Romans 8:1 says, “There is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus” (NLT). If you are a believer, if you have accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, there is no reason for shame or guilt in your life.

This doesn’t mean that once you become a Christian you no longer sin or make mistakes. You will. But you are no longer condemned for them; you are no longer judged. You are free from their consequences because Jesus took the condemnation for you on the cross, so you can close the door on the past.

Remembering what Jesus did for you also gives you a new power greater than willpower. Willpower only lasts a few weeks or months before you give up and go back to your old habits and temptations. But “the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you through Christ Jesus from the power of sin …” (Romans 8:2 NLT).

There are a lot of self-help plans out there to change yourself, and with your willpower, you might succeed at doing it for a few weeks, but your own efforts only go so far. Knowing the right thing to do doesn’t mean you have the power to do it.

Lasting change will only come when your inner nature changes. And the only thing that will change your sinful inner nature is the power of God’s life-giving Spirit.

God’s plan for lasting change is this: “He sent his own Son in a human body like ours, except that ours are sinful. God destroyed sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so the requirement of the law would be fully accomplished for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit” (Romans 8:3-4 NLT).

God's Mail Box

2011-07-08T12:20:00.000-07:00

We have a lovely lady in our church that is a wonderful painter and writer. She sends me thoughts that God gives her. She says that God sometimes wakes her up with the thoughts. I will be sharing some with you in the future. The one today is titled "God's Mailbox" and I think we can all relate. Enjoy

GOD’S MAIL BOX A STORY BY IDA M.

Every day except Sunday we usually check our mailbox. We are usually disappointed when we find it empty. We feel even worse when all that we receive are requests for donations or ads wanting us to buy things that we do not need. We are always happy to see a letter from someone that we love.

God has a “Mailbox” also. It is large enough for all the requests from his own children. Praise is always welcome. He always likes to receive envelopes marked with a stamp of faith. He does not need a computer like man does to get e-mail from his children. He is able to receive knee-mail 24 hours a day. Knee-mails are especially welcome from one of his children who have not knee-mailed anything to him for a long time. Knee-mails of love and praise are his favorites. You will never receive a knee-mail marked “return to sender, address unknown”.

We usually expect an answer soon. Sometimes the Lord answers our “knee-mail” soon, or it can take years of waiting for the answer. He opens all of his mail as it arrives and knows what we say in our prayers no matter what language we use. He prefers letters that are written from the heart, not form letters found in a book. In his word, he teaches us how to start and end our prayers in his Lord’s Prayer that is found in the book of Luke, chapter 11 verses 2, 3 and 4, also found in Matthew 6, verses 9-13. We should never forget the love letters of praise and the thank you ones for blessings and answered prayers.

We should never send him letters bragging about our good deeds or sacrifices we think that we have made, nor catalogs with pages marked with what we want him to give us. He has already given us the greatest gift that we could ever receive, forgiveness and eternal life with him.

The mailbox of your heart will be filled with such blessings as peace, long-suffering, comfort at times of grief and loss, not just sympathy. There is also strength in times of weakness and healing when that is what is needed. In return he wants and expects us to share his love and comfort with others in need. Not like earthly treasure, the more we give to others in things like encouragement, friendship and love, the more we will still have left.

So don’t wait to use God’s mailbox, he gets his “mail” every day 24/7 delivery is the same moment it is sent, and there is no day when he is not able to receive his mail. So don’t forget to put on that stamp of faith. You don’t even have to sign your name; He knows who you are already.

2011-07-08T07:31:00.000-07:00

Battle Signs, Part 1
by Rick Warren

“I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I can’t. I do what I don’t want to – what I hate.” Romans 7:15 (LB)

I love how gut-level honest the Apostle Paul is in Romans 7. Here he was, a mature believer, one of the greatest Christians who ever lived, sharing his struggles with his fellow believers.

And I’m so glad he did! He shared the emotional battle that is going on inside me and you and everyone who is a Christian when we try to do the right thing on our own effort.

Paul highlighted six emotional costs. Today I want to cover the first three you will experience when there is a battle going on inside you between the old and new nature.

You will experience confusion. Paul said, “I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I can’t …” (Romans 7:15 LB). Notice that Paul said “I”. He didn’t lay the blame on another person or an enemy. He recognized the confusion came from within himself.
You will experience guilt and shame. “I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience proves that I agree with these laws I’m breaking” (Romans 7:16 LB). The word “conscience” means “with knowledge.” So if your conscience is bothering you, it means you did something with the full knowledge it was wrong. The outcome of a bothered conscience is guilt and shame. God doesn’t want you to carry that around.
The outcome is compulsions and addictions. If you don’t learn how to fight the battle inside you, it will lead to compulsions and addictions. As Paul said, “I can’t help myself because I am no longer doing it. It is sin inside me that is stronger than I am …” (Romans 7:17 LB). We have a natural human nature with a built-in resistance to doing the right thing. We want to do what is easy and fun, but we don’t naturally want to do what is right and good. Sin is fun, and it can easily become habitual.

Are any of these sounding familiar in your life? Talk to God about your concerns, but then listen for his guidance about what you should do. Tomorrow I’ll show you three more.

Are You in a Battle?

2011-07-07T11:54:00.000-07:00

Ok, it's time to reactivate the blog and start postings. Over the next few days we will follow Rick Warren as he answers some pretty important questions. Enjoy.

Are You in a Battle?
by Rick Warren

“So you see how it is: my new life tells me to do right, but the old nature that is still inside me loves to sin. Oh, what a terrible predicament I’m in!” Romans 7:24a (LB)

Do you ever question whether you are really a Christian? You accept Christ and everything is going so well, but then you begin to feel like there is always a struggle to do the right thing, and you are not always successful. What happened?

The Apostle Paul struggled too. In Romans 7:15-23 he shared his personal struggles. He explained they were the struggles of his old nature, before he became a believer, conflicting with his new nature, received through the grace of Jesus Christ.

You will have similar struggles and temptations right up until the day you enter heaven. Paul says you will continue to lose the battle between the two natures if you rely only on your willpower. You can’t just say, “I’m going to stop sinning.” It won’t work. It will only lead to frustration.

Over the next several days, I want to explain to you some of the frustrations the Bible says you will face if you continue to try to win this battle on your own. And then I want to show you the three things Paul says will help you get the victory. So stick with me!

2011-04-26T07:10:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Heaven's 24-hour Emergency Hot Line
by Rick Warren

Trust me in your times of trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory. Psalm 50:15 (NLT)

"If you love me and truly know who I am, I will RESCUE you and keep you safe." Psalm 91:14 (CEV)

God wants you to ask him for help when you are in trouble. He says, “Call on me in times of trouble. I will rescue you, and you will honor me.” (Psalm 50:15 GW)

I call this a “microwave” prayer because it is quick and to the point: Help! SOS! Mayday! For instance, when temptation strikes and you don’t have time for a long conversation with God -- simply cry out! David, Daniel, Peter, Paul, and millions of others have prayed this kind of instant prayer for help in trouble.

The Bible guarantees that our cry for help will be heard because Jesus is sympathetic to our struggle. He faced the same kind of problems we do. He “understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same temptations we do, yet he did not sin.” (Hebrews 4:15 NLT)

If God is waiting to help us, why don’t we turn to him more often? Honestly, sometimes we don’t want to be helped! At that moment we think we know what’s best for us more than God does. At other times we’re embarrassed to ask God for help. But the Bible says, “Let us have confidence, then, and approach God’s throne, where there is grace. There we will receive mercy and find grace to help us just when we need it.” (Hebrews 4:16 TEV)

God’s love is everlasting, and his patience endures forever. Ask him for help and then watch how he provides.

2011-02-23T07:08:00.000-08:00

Hope for Real Relationships Comes When You Trust God
by Tom Holladay

“Trust God all the time. Tell him all your problems, because God is our protection.” Psalm 62:8 (NCV)

"Love is a feeling, but it is also an action."

What do you do with the feelings that come from disappointment in a relationship? You can’t stuff them away; they are just going to pop out somewhere else. You need to trust God and tell him all your problems because he is your protection.

Tell him you are angry or disappointed, or that you feel nothing. In those times when you feel nothing, when you feel like you’ve lost the love, go to God and tell him that -- then trust him. Hebrews 10:23 teaches us, “We can trust God to do what he promised” (NCV). And he promises to pour his love into our hearts.

Love is a feeling, but it is also an action. And when you lose the feeling to love someone, move forward with the action of loving them and that will help you reclaim your feelings of love. Is this hypocritical? No, it’s being human. We all lose the feeling to love at sometime. It usually happens when we decide to live with a problem instead of talking it out or openly facing it.

Start by telling God your feelings about the problem. From there, he can begin to give you the strength to talk to your loved one about it. As you do this, God will begin to restore your feeling of love for that person. He does what Lamentations 5:21 says, “Turn us around and bring us back to you again! That is our only hope! Give us back the joys we used to have!” (LB).

That is my prayer for you. Whether you are a husband or a wife who needs to let go of a disappointment or misunderstanding -- or if you need to accept the differences you have with a close friend -- I pray that God will begin to bring back your joy. But it’s a process, and it begins when you decide to trust God and tell him your feelings.

TAKE GOD AT HIS WORD

2011-02-12T13:29:00.000-08:00

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Take God at His Word
by Buddy Owens

“I am convinced that God, who began this good work in you, will carry it through to completion” (Philippians 1:6 GWT).

"But let me warn you: expect to be challenged. The Devil doesn't want you to be free, so he will whisper old lies to you."

This week’s devotionals are by Buddy Owens, teaching pastor at Saddleback Church and author of ‘The Way of a Worshiper’.

Lasting change doesn’t start with you. It starts with God. And it all begins when you say, “Yes Lord, I’m taking you at your word.” God isn’t asking you to make a promise that you can’t keep. He is asking you to receive a promise that only he can keep.

When you confess your faith, you are receiving God’s promises into your life, and he always keeps his promises. When you confess your faith, you are taking God at his Word, and you can!

He loves you – you have his Word on it (John 3:16).
You are forgiven – you have his Word on it (Psalm 103:3).
You belong to him – you have his Word on it (Romans 1:6).
He will never leave you or give up on you – you have his Word on it (Hebrews 13:5).
He will meet your needs – you have his Word on it (Philippians 4:19).
He has a plan and a purpose for your life – you have his Word on it (Jeremiah 29:11).

As you build your life on the Word of God, he will truly make you into a new person – a total makeover from the inside out. And what God starts, he will finish.

“I am convinced that God, who began this good work in you, will carry it through to completion” (Philippians 1:6 GWT).

Your responsibility it to confess it. Let it renovate your life. “Be made new in the attitude of your minds.” But let me warn you: expect to be challenged. The Devil doesn’t want you to be free, so he will whisper old lies to you. He’ll try to discourage you and accuse you. He will bring up your past to haunt and harass you. But, as Greg Laurie says, “Whenever the Devil tries to remind you of your past, remind him of his future.” And start confessing your faith.

What lies do you still believe? What is keeping you from walking in the freedom and joy of the Lord? Start declaring the truth of the God’s Word and then act on that truth.

And that will truly make a new you.

2011-02-05T08:34:00.000-08:00

Saturday, February 05, 2011

Choose Faith and Acknowledge God's Control
by Tom Holladay

“Everything in the heavens and earth is yours, O Lord … we adore you as being in control of everything.” 1 Chronicles 29:11 (LB)

"Why do we worry? Because we try to do what only God can do. We try to control the uncontrollable, explain the unexplainable, do the undoable, stop the unstoppable, fix the unfixable, bear the unbearable; and then we wonder why we are messed up."

When Jesus rebuked the wind and the waves in Matthew 8 the disciples were amazed and asked each other, “Who is this that even the winds and the sea obey him?” (Matthew 8:27 LB).

In that moment, they acknowledged God’s control. They realized there was no reason to worry because the God who commands galaxies with a word and holds molecules together with his power was right there in their boat.

Why do we worry? Because we try to do what only God can do. We try to control the uncontrollable, explain the unexplainable, do the undoable, stop the unstoppable, fix the unfixable, bear the unbearable; and then we wonder why we are messed up.

Only God is in control. That may leave you wondering, “If God is in control, why doesn’t he change this, or do that, or make this thing better?” Honestly, I don’t know. But I do know that I trust him. And I have found time and again that he is trustworthy. This world is not all there is. There is an eternity to come where everything will be made right and just.

God has allowed evil for a time, but it will not be forever. So I’m going to put my trust in him because he is the only one in control.

In the meantime, what should you do? Jesus says, “Don’t be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of your tomorrow, too. Live one day at a time” (Matthew 6:34 LB).

This doesn’t mean you don’t plan for the future. You should continue to set goals; in fact the Bible says it’s wise to set goals. But once you set those goals that might guide your direction, then you live one day at a time. If you decide to worry about what is going to happen tomorrow, you’ll miss out on what God wants you to do today.

2011-02-02T10:55:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, February 02, 2011

Choose Faith and Ask for Help

by Rick Warren

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” Philippians 4:6 (NLT)

When faced with the reality of a situation that is overwhelming, the best thing you can do is focus on God. The disciples, in Matthew 8, knew that Jesus could do something about the storm that threatened their lives as they were tossed on the sea.

Their answer to the overwhelming storm was to ask Jesus for help. “The disciples went to him and they woke him up, shouting, ‘Lord save us, we are going to drown” (Matthew 8:25 NLT).

Why is it that we wait until it gets really bad before we think we have to pray? One of the keys to dealing with anxiety is to cry for help earlier because God wants to help.

Instead of trying to live life on your own and let the worry overwhelm you, turn to God. He wants you to live life connected to him, talking to him, and getting connected with others because when you try to do it on our own and never ask for help, worries just multiply.

Maybe it’s hard for you to admit your needs. Maybe you think no one cares. Maybe you’re convinced you know the answer and no one else does. I think a lot of people don’t ask for help because they don’t want to be a bother to anyone.

It does not bother God when you ask for help. He stands ready to help you in every moment of life.

“Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done” (Philippians 4:6 NLT). Talking to God in prayer is the single most effective cure for worry, and it needs to be the attitude of your life.

Our verse today gives us the formula for how this works.

“Pray about everything.” First, you talk. As you talk to God about everything, you will find the anxiety level lessening in your life.

“Tell God what you need.” That’s the second thing. A lot of times people go to God in prayer and tell God about everything and everyone else, but don’t share their needs with him. Tell him what you are worried about!

“Thank him for all he has done.” There is something about gratitude that lessens anxiety and opens the door to peace and incredible faith in your life. No matter what you’re going through in life right now, there is something you can look back on and say, “God, I’m grateful for that.” So hang on to that.

Face Reality, Then Choose Faith

2011-02-01T10:16:00.000-08:00

“Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples. Suddenly a terrible storm came up, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping.” Matthew 8:23-24 (NLT)

"The question is how can we keep from worrying when life is overwhelming and it feels like God is slow in answering?"

If you are going to deal with worry and anxiety, the first thing you have to do is face reality.

In Matthew 8, we see the reality of the situation that Jesus and the disciples faced. What they went through shows us the reality of what we have to face when life doesn’t go the way we plan.

They faced a sudden storm. This is a picture for us of unexpected problems. We often don’t know what direction a problem is going to come from or where we will be when it hits.
If you build your life around the belief that you’ll be okay this year as long as nothing goes wrong, you’re going to lose. Because something will always go wrong.
They faced waves. Waves in our life are overwhelming circumstances. For the disciples, the waves in the midst of the storm were higher than their boat. They had overwhelming circumstances. And the same thing happens to us. A storm hits our life and the circumstances of it leave us wondering, “How am I going to face that?”
They had a boat. This is a picture for us of inadequate resources. The boat wasn’t big enough to hold the waves that were coming. We face the same situation.
If only we had all the money in the world, then everything would be fine. But we don’t. If only we had all the time in the world, then everything would be fine. But we don’t. That’s just reality, and saying anything else is a lie.
Jesus was asleep in the boat. Here were the disciples in the midst of a storm and almost ready to drown, and Jesus, the one they knew could make a difference, was asleep.
This is a picture of how many of us feel when we are facing a genuine problem in life. We don’t know what to do or where to turn, and we know God knows what we’re going through. The worse it gets, the more we wonder, “God, where are you in all of this? Why don’t you do something to change the situation?”
The question is how can we keep from worrying when life is overwhelming and it feels like God is slow in answering?
Anxiety wears you out and it shortens your life, but if you have no other answers, you are going to keep worrying. Many people think the answer to worry is to somehow pretend that there is nothing to worry about. But the only way to deal with worry effectively is to face reality and then choose to face reality with faith.

Today’s devotional is by Tom Holladay, teaching pastor at Saddleback Church and author of ‘The Relationship Principles of Jesus.’

IT"S A NEW DAY TO BUILD BRIDGES AND CONTROL OUR FINANCIAL FUTURE

2011-01-12T07:39:00.000-08:00

As we begin the new year, and the next decade, I have began two new series. This is a first and I am excited to see the response from challenging the family to build for a strong financial future while learning to build bridges to those in the community.
Sunday morning we looked at Yielding to God what is God's. We studied 1st Chronicles and the prayer that David lifted to God after the people had brought all that was needed to build the temple. He made it clear that each had brought back what belonged to God in the first place.
Sunday evening we jumped into the unknown, by looking at what it takes to build relationships with strangers! It is amazing that we are taught so many things in our lives, but we are never taught how to genuinely build two friendships. So we begin by looking at the most wonderful truth in the world, the most amazing truth in the world, the most marvelous truth in the world is this: God wants to have a relationship with me. As we studied the scripture we found that we must be proactive, stop wearing masks, find common ground, demonstrate God's love and truly care about the feelings and fears of others.

A Thanksgiving Prayer from Rick Warren

2010-12-25T14:41:00.000-08:00

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

2010-12-04T20:16:00.000-08:00

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

2010-09-08T07:42:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-09T22:25:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-04-13T08:11:00.000-07:00

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

2010-03-29T10:30:00.001-07:00

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

2010-03-08T09:48:00.000-08:00

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

2010-03-01T08:03:00.000-08:00

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

2010-02-10T20:05:00.000-08:00

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.

Celebration Continues of God's Mighty Work

2009-12-07T07:54:00.000-08:00

Last Week saw two milestones in the life of FBC. First on Wednesday, Dec 2nd, three men were ordained at a special service. Bill Montgomery was ordained and will become the Executive Pastor, with duties from Finance to coordinating the "running" of the church. JP Solstad was ordained and will become an Associate Pastor of Education and will be responsible for the education, small groups and coordination the outreach. Don Johnson was ordained as a deacon and will continue the deacon duties he has been so faithful at in the past. As the church continues to grow, I believe the foundation is becoming stronger as men like these step up to the calling of serving the Lord.

The second milestone was a wonderful night of celebration as the woman of the church held their 3rd annual Christmas Tea. The woman know how to "throw a party". We had record attendance of over 100 and we were please to see many from other churches including 4 pastors wives, the mayor and two councilman's wives. The community came out in force and all had a great time. The men of the church served the ladies again and the woman kept asking me "how do you get the men to do this?" My response was "they were ask and accepted the invitation to serve"

I am excited about what God is doing at FBC and look forward to a wonderful 2010..

40 Day's of Community a Great Success

2009-11-03T10:45:00.000-08:00

The small groups are growing, relationships are building, and we as a church are finding out what it means when the Bible says "We are better together". A great example of this for me was at our last Sunday night service. I have made a commitment to be done in one hour, and so far I have kept that promise. The thing that I am seeing is that when i am done, no body leaves! At 7:30 on Sunday night, I finally had to ask someone to lock up because I was leaving and we had small groups of people talking at different locations through the church. Now, you know I am not complaining, I am excited to see that kind of friendship building in our church.
Sunday Morning we heard from two of our small group about their community outreach projects and they ask for volunteers to help gather food, pack boxes and find names of people who we can provide a thanksgiving meal to. What a wonderful ministry. One of our groups announced that they were going to have "Parents Night Out" in December and will be asking for cans of food as payment for the services of watching children while the parents spend the evening together.

Sunday Night Service

2009-10-19T10:06:00.000-07:00

October 18, we completed our 4th night of Sunday night worship. Having made the commitment to try this new format for 6 weeks, and see what God was going to do with it, I believe God is telling us to continue. We had 40 in attendance and though it's not about noses, we do have people coming that can't come on Sunday AM and that is encouraging for us. I also believe we will see people inviting people that may not come on Sunday morning. We will continue to let God guide and see what He has in mind.
The evening teaching was on 1 Samuel 21 where David had gotten to place in his life where his faith was wavering and he had lost his God focus. The lesson was that when things got desperate for David, where did he go? He went to Church! And with no apparent resources the priest was able to provide bread and a sword for David. The lesson was that we sometimes hold so close to the letter of the law that we forget the compassion that God calls us to for those in need.

IT'S NEVER TO LATE

2009-09-18T18:24:00.000-07:00

SUNDAY WAS ANOTHER DAY OF GLORIFYING GOD AS WE SAW TWO SENIOR ADULTS COME TO THE BAPTISM WATERS. JOHN, 74 CAME WITH TEARS TO MAKE A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF HIS ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS AS HIS SAVIOR AND BOB CAME RIGHT BEHIND HIM AT AGE 80 AND TOLD ME HE WAS A SWIMMER AND HE COULD STAY UNDER LONGER! I TOLD HIM "NO ONE PAID ME TO HOLD YOU UNDER LONGER?" HE JUST SMILED REAL BIG. HIS SON ROB STOOD BY HIS SIDE AND HELPED HIS FATHER IN AND OUT OF THE TANK. THERE WASN'T A DRY EYE IN THE HOUSE AFTER THESE TWO CAME TO THE WATER. I REMINDED EVERYONE THAT THE WATER WAS THERE FOR THEM AND IF THEY HAD GIVEN THEIR LIFE TO CHRIST AND HAD NOT BEEN BAPTIZED, JUST LET ME KNOW..
WE ALSO GAVE OUT 3 BAPTISM BIBLES TO SHARON, DIANE AND DAUGHTER MAGGIE. GOD WAS GLORIFIED AND THE MESSAGE WAS ON FINDING HOPE IN OUR LIVES AND WHAT A WAY TO START THE MESSAGE.

Why I Love the Church

2009-09-01T10:40:00.000-07:00

Sunday, I challenged all to "fall in love with the Bride of Christ" It is time that each of us take a hard look at our relationship to Christ and His church. Only in America do we have people who float from church to church. We must start looking at the commandments that Jesus gives us to "Love one another" by being active and participating in and with fellow believers to expand the body of Christ. When we love someone we are excited to "introduce her to others". We should feel that way about the Bride of Christ as defined in God's word and want to invite others that have either never been part of the family of God, or had an experience that took them away from the church. I have ask everyone to think of 3 people that they will invite to "Back to Church Sunday" on Sept. 13th. Let us pray that God will do a wonderful work on 9/13 by bringing and touching the hearts of many in the community

Celebrating New Members

2009-08-24T07:34:00.000-07:00

I taught class 101 on August 16th and had 10 new members in attendance. We studied the scripture on what it means to be saved and at the end of that session, I ask everyone to pray the sinners prayer and two of the members prayed an ask Jesus into their hearts for the first time. It was a great day with everyone agreeing with the structure, strategy and statements of FBC, by signing the membership covenants. Next step for each of them will be class 201 to learn spiritual disciplines and begin their spiritual journey. The two that prayed the prayer for the first time will be coming to the baptismal waters in the upcoming weeks.

Yesterday, the 23rd was another great day at FBC. God is so good and we had a wonderful day celebrating "We were made for a mission" I was approached by an 81 year old man that wants to be baptized! Praise God, I look forward to the privilege of baptizing him.

RAMOS FAMILY CELEBRATION

2009-08-10T19:01:00.000-07:00

Sunday night was a very very special night as we heard the testimony of one we have been praying for for over a year. Paul Ramos shared what God has done in his life in helping him overcome a life threatning addiction that almost took his life one year ago. Paul acknowledged all who have been there for him during this challenging time. Paul share the pain and suffering that we went through but also acknowledged the pain and suffering he had put many of his family and friends through and they never gave up on him. After Paul spoke, his mother and father came forward to speak to the church and share from their heart through tears what the last few years have been like with Paul's addiction. Thanking the church and the Teen Challenge Organization, Paul and his parents acknowledge the power of God in helping all of them through this time. The evening closed with Pauls sister and brother in law speaking of the pain of the past and the damage that the addiction does to a family.
The Ramos family brought hope to some parents in the audience that are struggling with children that are addicted. What a wonderful evening. Thank you Paul and thank you God for what you have done in his life.

What a celebration!

2009-07-29T06:58:00.000-07:00

Once again, God was Glorified as five people came to the baptism waters. I had the privilege of baptizing two of my grandchildren, Kimberly and Christopher. What a great day! The 3 adults all bring a story of renewal and life change and it was my privilege to baptize them.

God continues to work, Heat and all....

2009-07-21T11:23:00.001-07:00

I was reminded on Sunday that even in the heat, the Lord continues to bless. Sunday saw a record number of guests and the majority from the local community. We welcomed 16 first time guests and at the end of the service, three lifted there hands to acknowledge they had prayed the prayer to receive Jesus as their Lord and savior. Next Sunday, the 26th we will be baptizing in the 2nd service. I pray that the church family will continue to invite thier friends and family members for this special time as we continue our series on living a purpose driven life..
The morning ended with Cindy from the hospital passing out ice cream bars for all who attended the 10:45 service, (sorry 8AM) She was showing her appreciation for all who showed up Monday to assist her in preparing the 1200 cupcakes for the 5th year celebration....THANK YOU CINDY

The Cupcake Brigade

2009-07-13T19:38:00.000-07:00

Monday morning at Mesa Hospital, we had a great turnout of volunteers to help the hospital get ready for their 5 year celebration. On Sunday as we started our Purpose Driven Series, one of the points in the message focused on "giving back". What better opportunity for us to give back than to the hospital that has meant so much to us and our community. Mesa View Hospital has been a blessing to the community. No longer is it necessary to travel to St. George or Las Vegas for a hospital. We have our own!
So it was with pleasure that a group showed up at the cafeteria this morning to help with the 1000+ cupcakes that were being baked in preparation for the celebration. I arrived first and got to "learn the ropes" by spreading the icing and then applying the sprinkles. What fun. Members started showing up at 9am and Cindy (she runs the cafeteria) had a big smile as each member washed up, put on hair nets and gloves and said "Where do you need me?" She couldn't cook them fast enough once the teams got the production started.

Baptisms Continue

2009-06-17T08:59:00.000-07:00

We saw two more come to the Baptism waters on Sunday. What a blessing as we saw a mother and daughter come to the water. Mother Diane and Daughter Maggie, after making professions of faith in our Lord Jesus, obediently came to be baptized. We also celebrated the decision made my a young lady that had come forward the week before and given her life to the Lord. She had been Baptized Friday in Las Vegas and we recognized her and had her stand at the end of the service with Diane and Maggie to be congratulated by the church family. It was great to be back on the pulpit after being gone the previous week.

2009-05-26T16:01:00.000-07:00

May 24th, Another wonderful day in the Lord. We started the service with two great videos to honor those who have served and those who have sacrificed in the armed forces. After the first video, "remember the fallen" Bill Montgomery ask all of the people who has served or are currently serving to stand as the rest of us honored them with our heart felt applause. The next video was the one we show each year, "You are the Ones", what a touching tribute to all who have served. The song that is performed during the showing of the video touches hearts and the tears were coming after. Bill M came back up to offer a wonderful prayer for all those who have served and for those that are serving today. He then ask everyone to meet and greet those around them, so that each person feels welcome in the house of the Lord.
The praise team took it from here.... Hallelujah. They started with My Country Tis of Thee, right into God bless America, the next song picked up the tempo with "My Redeemer Lives" and then we slowed down to prepare our hearts with "He is my hiding place, followed by He is our Peace" What a wonderful time of celebration, as we prepared our hearts to hear God's word.
I had the privledge of continuing the series on "How God Meets Our Deepest Need" This weeks message was about "Jehovah Shalom" Our God of Peace. (find it on this website under weekly sermons) during the alter call at the end of the 2nd service, another heart accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. A woman visiting a family member from Salt Lake City, raised her hand after she had prayed the sinners pray. I met with her after church and gave her our new believers package and invited her back to be baptized in the upcoming weeks. Her name is Pat, Please pray for her, God knows who she is and she needs your prayers as she starts her new life in Christ Jesus.
The service ended with Sam giving us some important announcements, check your calender, and Myra playing the "Battle Hymn of the Republic". If you weren't there....You missed a wonderful time of fellowship and worship....
See you next Sunday

Hole In One...My First

2009-05-05T10:29:00.000-07:00

Monday, I joined my brother-in-law Joe for a round of golf at the Legacy Golf Course in Henderson. It was a beautiful day with temperatures in the 80s with a nice breeze. But that wasn't the best part. The best part came on hole 15, a par 3 162yard hole. I stepped up and took careful aim (I was hoping to find the green) and let loose for my first "Hole In One" in my life. What a wonderful day and what a surprise. It felt so good and I believe that God was smiling cause I sure was...

First Baby Dedication

2009-04-27T08:16:00.000-07:00

We did our first Baby Dedication at First Baptist. Moises and Blanca Funz brought their daughter Nicole to be dedicated to the Lord and to hear the church family make a commitment to the family to be there and help them raise their daughter

Hawaii Trip a Blessing

2009-04-13T13:27:00.000-07:00

Just returned from 7 days on the Island of Hawaii. We spent the time seeing the beautiful sites and even played a little golf. The Montgomery's were gracious hosts and provided us with a wonderful place to stay at the Hilton Grand Vacation Resort. We stayed on the "rock side" of the Island as it appears to be built on top of a huge lava bed. The golf was wonderful and we had the privilege of worshiping with a group at the Wiakolo Baptist Church on Palm Sunday. We made it back in time for our Easter services on Sunday and look forward to getting back in the swing of our ministry.

2009-01-03T09:30:00.000-08:00

Thank you Lord for 2008, can't wait to see Your work in 2009

2008 was a wonderful year of seeing God work in the hearts of people. FBC was privileged to baptize 28 souls that came to know the Lord Jesus as their personal savior. We continue to marvel at how God brings those that are lost to meet him at FBC.
2009 will be a new beginning for many and I am sure that God will continue to allow us to see lives changed. Though the economy weights heavy on the hearts of many, and in our community we struggle with the loss of jobs, God is still God.

THE TOP TEN THINGS you will not have to worry about in 2009:
a. The Bible will still have the answers.
b. Prayer will still work.
c. The Holy Spirit will still move.
d. God will still inhabit the praises of His people.
e. There will still be God-anointed preaching.
f. There will still singing of praise.
g. God will still pour out blessings upon His people.
h. There will still be room at the cross.
i. Jesus will still love you.
j. Jesus will still save the lost.

SO MUCH TO BE THANKFUL FOR

2008-11-26T11:40:00.000-08:00

This month has been a month filled with reflections of what people are thankful for. We continued the tradition of "putting thanks back into thanksgiving" for the month of November. Each year it is a blessing to hear from the church family the many things that they are thankful for.
At a time when our economy is in such bad shape, many people have lost so much financially, we must take the time to remember all the blessing we have and the fact that we still have our health and each other.
Each Sunday we have have ask the family to write out a card with what they are thankful for and it has been inspiring to see so many take their eyes off them selves and focus on God and the many blessing He gives us.
We heard from the woman's ministry as they shared there commitment to serving others by serving God. They delivered baskets of treats to the first responders in the city as well as the hospital to tell them how much we appreciate what they do for us. We heard from the Food Bank the fact that not only have they served over 100 families on a weekly bases but they were prepared to give out over 150 turkeys for the holiday.
Sam Ramos shared his family history of how he was raised in a Christian home as a result of his father committing himself to God as he lay trapped in a deep, dark mine in New Mexico and was the only survivor of 120 men trapped. Sam also gave us a thanksgiving message using titles from songs we all recognized. You can read about them on our website.
And November saw 8 people come to the baptism waters after making life changing commitments to our Lord.
So during this Thanksgiving time I praise God for all he has done for me and through me and look forward to the continue blessing of serving him as we begin our 9th year in his service at FBC.

PASSION FOR GOD IS REIGNITED AT FBC

2008-10-14T19:18:00.000-07:00

Coming back from vacation, God put on my heart a question. What can I do to overcome the complacency and apathy found in our church?. The dog days of summer effect many people different ways. But one thing I have found, we easily get distracted from our journey with God. As I continue to pray and look to others for prayer and suggestions, it became clear that we all needed to reignite our passion for God.
Many in our church are new believers, evidenced by the 8 baptisms last week. So as I considered the body as a whole, and seeing the new found excitement in our new believers, I could not help but ask "Has there ever been a time in your life that you were closer to God than you are right now?" And why? A question I first heard ask by Rick Warren.
As I spent time with the new believers in our church, preparing them for baptism, it became clear that what they had was the fresh passion that comes with the understanding of how exciting the decision they had made was.
Life change had taken place and they wanted to let everyone know. As I meet with them in our new believers class, I am constantly refreshed and reminded of the passion they have.
So last Sunday, I began a new series to look at what we can do to reignite our passion for the one who created us. God blessed us with a message that began with Rick Warren and was passed down and made available to all of us. We studied the 7 passion killers and found that for many of us there were things that had taken the passion from us.
As we will continue to look at what it means to have passion for God and what we can do to make a difference in the world, I am excited to see the passion coming back to so many at FBC.

Thank you Jesus, for awaking the passion in us by allowing us to see the true passion that you displayed by going to a cross.

To Find Solitude and Beauty, Thank the Sheep?

2008-08-24T15:35:00.001-07:00

Vic and I just returned from a week in the mountains of Utah, and we were blessed to be in some of the most beautiful country of God's glorious creation. We left on Saturday fully intending to stay a day or two at different locations though out the Northern Utah area. However, we set up camp at Fishlake in the Fishlake National Forest and stayed for the entire week. The Lake offers a number of great camp sites and we choose the Mackinaw camp site as it offered the best locations at the edge of the Aspen trees. (And showers!)

We set up camp on Saturday evening and were treated to a mother deer and her baby right at the back of our camp site. That was just the beginning as we were able to see many, many deer while staying in the area.

We spent 6 nights in the same camp site as each day we explored around the Fishlake area; Johnson Reservoir, Fremont Creek, and Mill Meadow. We found wonderful fishing spots along the Fremont River and meadows in the high country. We fished creeks as high as 11,000 feet and I caught the largest fish of my life. I caught a 36 inch Tiger Muskie, a hybrid cross between muskellunge and northern pike, and Vic tried to help me bring it out of the creek, but it had teeth! When she saw the number and size of teeth, she lost interest quickly. We did manage to get a couple of pictures while in the water. I had never heard of this kind of fish and was caught off guard, catching such a large fish in a mountain stream.

Most of our trip was spent exploring new areas and taking great pictures. Vic loves her new Canon and the telephoto lens came in so handy. If you would like to see some of the pictures (click here.)

Ok so what about the title; "Thank the Sheep?" The area that we visited was made possible by the protection of the National Forest Service under the direction of President Roosevelt in 1907 in response to the local citizens. Over grazing of the mountains by transient bands of sheep was crowding out the domestic stock belonging to valley residents. Over grazing damaged watersheds, resulting in flash floods that damaged the communities and affected the irrigation lands. So if it had not been for the sheep, we would not have the 1,461,228-acre Fishlake National Forest that we have today. And, we would not have had the fun and refreshing we had as a result of the "sheep".

Farewell to Matthew

2008-08-12T09:53:00.000-07:00

Our summer missionary, Matthew Lust, spent his last Sunday with us and spoke to the congregation to remind them to continue focusing on the "main thing". Matthew has been serving at FBC during the summer and was very active in our Vacation Bible School.
Matt came from Minnesota State University where he received his Masters in Sociology. He will be moving to Las Vegas to attend UNLV where he will work on his doctorate.
Be sure an pray for Matt as he moves to his next assignment in serving our Lord.

Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Efforts

2008-07-29T11:17:00.000-07:00

Many people are not aware of the efforts of Southern Baptists in times of disaster in our nation. Did you know that the Salvation Army and the Red Cross call the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams every time there is a disaster in our nation? The most recent is the floods in Iowa. As of July the 25th the report from the SBDR tells us that there have been:

Meals served 329,989
Mudouts 496
Chainsaw 489
Showers 4,886
Laundry Loads 2,557
Chaplain Contacts 2,032
Professions of Faith 29
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Day of Celebration.

2008-07-28T09:40:00.000-07:00

What a fabulous weekend, Saturday we spent time as a church family throwing water balloons at the pastor, then Sunday we came back to the baptism waters for two more baptisms. The Picnic was held under overcast sky's (thank you Lord). We had a good turnout and the kids (and adults) had a great time playing with water guns and water balloons. Our traveling chefs, Bruce and Roger prepared the meal for us and everyone enjoyed the hamburger and Hot dogs. We have to thank Rick for his commitment to making sure we have everything we need as he pulled up with at trailer full of supplies, as well as a 55 gallon barrel of water! Only Rick would bring his on water for the games including a pump to run a hose with a sprayer on the end! Come on Rick, a hose against a water pistol?
Sunday saw two more come to the baptism waters both from our VBS. It was exciting for all to see a mother of three come to be baptized because she gave her life to Christ during the VBS. She was attending one of the programs to watch her children, when during an alter call for the children she prayed the prayer to receive the Lord as her Savior. God works in such wonderful ways.
Next Sunday we will be going back to the baptism pool as one more came to me last night as said she was ready to be baptized.

Thank you for your prayers

2008-07-25T08:29:00.000-07:00

I want to thank everyone for their prayers and concern as I a struggled with the food poisoning this week. I have never had anything more draining than those three days of dealing with getting rid of what I believe was the meat I had for dinner Saturday night. The final remedy came from our resident nurse when she instructed me to boil rice and drink the water, as well as boil a potato and drink the water. I did both and it truly made a difference.

Now, for the good stuff, Sunday nights family meeting without me went great, I'm told. The time was spent to recognize and hear from our latest Admin Council member, Roger. I was told that Roger and his wife were introduced and given time to speak to the family and questions were ask. Charlie shared these words about the evening:
"We introduced Roger and Cathy and had Roger give a bit of his personal testimony, then gave the congregation a chance to ask questions. They asked questions for about 10 minutes (or more) almost entirely about the building campaign. It was interesting, some of the questions mirrored the committee’s questions about this being the right building for growth, other potential properties in Mesquite etc. We then had Rodger and Cathy leave and asked if there were any other questions of the council. There really weren’t any. Billy spoke in his favor as did Ernie and Glenda. The vote was unanimous.

So please welcome Roger as the latest member of our Admin Council. Stop him when you see him and thank him for his committment to your church.

Doug and Pat Alger

2008-07-18T21:34:00.000-07:00

I talked with Doug and Pat Alger today and they are loving the weather in Missouri. She told me they attended First Baptist Church of Mountain Grove. Pat said that they felt very welcome and that though they have other churches they will visit, they felt very welcome. We need to pray that God will guide them to the church where He wants them to serve. If you would like their new address, please contact Becky at church.
Pastor

RAN OUT OF BUNS!

2008-07-16T20:13:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful night of fellowship and bible study. We had 49 people come for fellowship and we ran out of hamburger buns! Praise God. Rick showed us how to put a burger on a hot dog bun. What a great time we have sharing food together and meeting new people. Kim took the small children, 10 and Matt took the older kids, 8. Charley once again did a great job on the bible study, finishing the 5th chapter of Matthew. The group had good questions and the interaction heard some great stories of God working in peoples lives. The focus of the Bible study was learning that we even have to love the unlovable.

I announced that next week I will teach the New Believers class starting at 6:30 on Wednesday. We have so many new believers and the questions we are getting tell us its time to start going deeper with some new believers. I can't wait, I love the journey of taking someone through the seven beginning steps. Next week we will begin with "Be sure of Your Salvation". God continues to bless us and the praises tonight were more than the prayer requests. We prayed for our country, our military, our snow birds and our immediate family needs.
TO GOD BE THE GLORY,

God is not a four season God.

2008-07-14T17:26:00.000-07:00

I was reminded this last Sunday that God is not a snowbird and does not stop working because its summer. Sunday in our 2nd service we had to bring in folding chairs. God is so good and right in the middle of summer, with temperatures around 112, He fills his house. We all had a good laugh last night at our evening Bible Study talking about the things people say about summer in Mesquite and how some of the churches cancel everything do to the fact that some leave for the summer. We have a number of people traveling and 6 or 7 snowbird couples but God continues to bring new people to the community and therefore we are meeting new couples nearly every weekend. Sunday we Baptized 4 children, two from our VBS and two were grandchildren of a member who lost her husband last week. The children wanted to be baptized where she could be there. It made for an emotional time and a wonderful service. We observed the Lord's supper at both services. I never "tag" the Lord's supper on the beginning or end of a service and this time was no exception. I devoted the entire service to explanation of what it means and how to prepare to observe it. At the end of the service, a 93 year old woman who has been attending with her daughter came to me at the back door and said "In all my years of going to church I have never had the Lord's Supper explained to me like you did today, thank you and she gave me a kiss on the cheek" What a great feeling. Words of encouragement come sometimes at the most unexpected times.

Spiritual warfare

2008-07-05T19:29:00.000-07:00

Spiritual Warfare: We as a church have experienced Spiritual Warfare on many occasions, but the most recent was the organizing and putting on the Vacation Bible School program to reach the children of our community. For the first time we had 3 leaders step up to take part in the wonderful outreach event. Each leader, in the first few days of planning and participating in this event received bad news regarding members of their immediate or extended families. If you have been following our prayer requests, you are aware of each one. But once again, God prevailed. Each one of the leaders, in spite of the distractions, was able to step up and present VBS to the community and God was honored. Please say a special thanks to all those that stepped up to make this such a great event. The leadership team of Pastor Charlie, Kim A, Melinda W. are to be commended and I would ask you to let them know how much you appreciate their sacrifice.

God Glorified at Vacation Bible School

2008-06-30T10:21:00.000-07:00

This week was a wonderful week. We saw 83 children participate in our VBS, 41 adults and youth volunteered to make a complete success. This has been the most successful VBS in the last few years at FBC. 25 children prayed the prayer on Thursday to accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour, (including two of my grandchildren!).
Friday night we invited the parents to come and see what the children had been doing for the week and we fed over 130 that evening in a wonderful time of fellowship.
This program could not have happened without the leadership of Pastor Charlie, Melinda Woodworth and Kim Abbott. What a team, they transformed the church into a beautiful Island for the celebration theme of Outrigger Island.
My thanks goes out to all of the wonderful volunteers who made this a tremendous success.
God was truly Glorified in the selfless sharing from all.

2008-06-13T11:36:00.000-07:00

June 11th, 2008
I attended the luncheon at the Mental Health facility to hear the news that more money has been cut from the state budget as it relates to helping those who need mental help. In the FY 08, 8 positions frozen, residential support payments, psychological testing materials and over 80% of One Shots eliminated, for a total of $695,070. This will effect the Rural Clinics in a negative way as they are already stretched beyond capacity with people waiting months for clinical help . I believe that this is continuing to open the doors for the local churches as we look at the P.E.A.C.E. program proposed by Rick Warren.
It is time that we put the hands and feet back on the local churches. Local churches need to use this time to reach out to more people in the community by being a beacon of light to the community. I realize that we are not or do we have qualified therapists, but I do know that we can offer a place of comfort, security, fellowship and hope for those who are waiting on the lists to see a therapist. We do offer a Christ Centered 12 step program that has impacted lives and have brought people to the saving grace of Christ.
I plan to meet with the pastors in the community and talk to them about what more can be done to help the most affected of our community. I would like to know your thoughts on what could be done by the local church that is not being done now.

2008-06-10T11:42:00.000-07:00

I venture into the new world of blogs this day. I look forward to seeing how GOD can use a tool like this to further my ministry and spread the good news of the gospel. I welcome your comments, and your questions.
God has been faithful in this small town, I have seen lives changed by His grace, marriages healed by His love, and bodies made whole again by his healing.