Intimately Acquainted

“O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways.”  Psalm 139:1-3

I was reminded of these verses this week. Emma and I had been playing outside in the yard. We were climbing up and down her swing set, picking and eating blueberries, and watering our tomato plants. Mindy came outside to join us and we put Emma in her wagon to take a walk down the street. As soon as we reached the street, we began to hear loud popping and cracking. To our surprise, a huge branch from the pecan tree in our side yard came crashing to the ground right where we had been standing a few seconds before that. I can be a little hard-headed at times, but I think I got the message from God in that moment. He is constantly watching over His children. There are no mere coincidences, chance, or luck. There is simply the protection, providence and the watchful eye of God. Remember this truth as you go through this next week: He is “intimately acquainted” with you!

Plan With God

“Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.”  -Psalm 37:5

“Don’t plan without God. God seems to have a delightful way of upsetting the plans we have made, when we have not taken Him into account. We get ourselves into circumstances that were not chosen by God, and suddenly we realize that we have been making our plans without Him—that we have not even considered Him to be a vital, living factor in the planning of our lives. And yet the only thing that will keep us from even the possibility of worrying is to bring God in as the greatest factor in all of our planning.

In spiritual issues it is customary for us to put God first, but we tend to think that it is inappropriate and unnecessary to put Him first in the practical, everyday issues of our lives. If we have the idea that we have to put on our ‘spiritual face’ before we can come near to God, then we will never come near to Him. We must come as we are.”  -Oswald Chambers

I could not have said it any better and there was no reason in trying! If you don’t have My Utmost for His Highest, you really should pick up a copy. It’s the best devotional out there (in my opinion, of course).

God of Beauty

“The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.”  -Psalm 19:1

God has blessed us and shown us His grace in so many ways. At times, I believe that this causes us to overlook some of them. The area this happens most for me is the area of God’s beauty. I know that He creates beautiful things but I seem to dwell on His power, might, and judgment most of the time (maybe because I’m a man) but seem to forget about His gentleness, love and beauty.

I have been reminded of this many times lately, and I’m sure that’s no accident. I often am taken back by the beauty of my wife…I am watching my daughter grow up to be a beautiful little girl. She is taking after her mother, no doubt. Mindy, Emma, and I took a trip to St. George Island last weekend to see the retreat center before bringing the youth this weekend. Wow! What a beautiful place. I even saw a snake in our back yard and for the first time ever, a snake was beautiful. God truly is a God of beauty! Reflect on that fact this morning as you worship Him. Look for His beauty in the small things and even the things that are not so commonly beautiful (like snakes!).

Thanks!

Praise God for the outcome of our outreach project! I cannot believe that over 3,000 bottles of water were handed out in less than 6 hours! There were countless people that day who were blessed and really taken aback at the gesture of free, ice cold water.

I would like to take a minute and give a sincere “Thank you!” to everyone who helped to make this outreach a success. Thank you to those who gave water or cash, to those who allowed us to use coolers or wagons, to those who showed up to attach the 3,000 labels to the bottles, and to those who came out Saturday to sweat it out for Jesus! It is such an honor and privilege to witness a church serving, loving, and coming together to meet a need. That is what you all did and I have no doubt that we will see the fruits of that.

For those of you who were not as involved, I am sad that you missed a true blessing. We are not the church when we simply sit in the pews. That is only the beginning! We are the church when we are taking God’s love and His Word out into the world around us.

Seek first...

Boy, do I love the summer! This time of year holds so much potential for ministry. We have just finished Vacation Bible School and a large community outreach project (Watermelon Festival). We have more youth coming up into the youth group on July 3^rd and a beach retreat coming up as well. Not to mention the possibility of another outreach project closer to the beginning of the school year.

Pastor Rick, Brother Daryll, and I have finally had time to sit down, brainstorm and talk together about the future of God’s church and what He has in store. Let me say this: There are truly greater things still to come! If we will all follow the command in Matthew 6:33 and “…seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness…” then all the “other” that this verse talks about (projects, events, outreaches, classes, meetings, etc.) will fall in to place. God will give each of us the wisdom to see that if we are concerned for the best of His Kingdom, we will in turn be looking out for the best of First Baptist Church. The latter cannot come before the former though! We cannot put the cart before the horse in our efforts to “make the church the best it can be.” Furthermore, none of us knows how to do that…only He does!

Beach Retreat

Church, thank you once again for your commitment and sacrifice to our water bottle outreach! We have met and exceeded our goal and now can move our focus to the day of the outreach! Let me know if you can help!

I want to let everyone know of an exciting youth event coming up July 7-9. We will be having a beach retreat on St. George Island and I need you all to begin praying now for the students that attend. Pray for God to work in their hearts and their lives during these few days of spiritual retreat. Pray also that any chaperones who attend may have opportunity to build relationships with our students and influence them for Christ. It is going to be a great time…but prayer is the need at this point!

Greater Things

We have a great church! God has brought together a group of people at First Baptist that are ready, willing, and passionate about ministering to each other and reaching the community in the name of Christ. It is amazing to see the work that can be done when we push all the “junk” aside. You have already met (and exceeded) our goal for the water giveaway on June 18^th! Meeting a goal is one thing, but exceeding it because of the joy in your hearts to serve and “give God” to your community is something far better!

Jesus said He came “…to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). He also said that He “…did not come to be served, but to serve…” (Matt. 20:28). If we can consistently step out of our comfort zones to give as Jesus did (until it hurts), then a water bottle giveaway is just the beginning. The outreach ministries of First Baptist Church are now under the title of “Greater Things.” I think this title fits us perfectly. God has greater things for each one of us, for this church, for this community, and for this world! It all starts right here in this worship service…worship Him this morning like you never have before and greater things will come!

Anxious for Change

During my first month here at First Baptist, I have experienced different emotions. I have sometimes felt optimism and trust in the light of God’s will; sometimes frustration and impatience in the light of God’s mercy (which is something we cannot truly understand). What I think I have experienced the most is being anxious. I have been anxious for change, anxious for progress, and anxious for hope. This week, I wanted to simply share a section of God’s Word with those of you who share my anxiousness for First Baptist Monticello—God’s church:

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.”  -Philippians 4:4-8

Stay Focused

I challenged us last week to be the church God has called us to be: open, honest, and humble. Let me follow up with some honesty in my own life. We all have certain areas in life that are a constant struggle to give over completely to God. “Let go and let God” is easier said than done in these areas. Here is the honest part: mine is finances. I have a very hard time trusting God to meet our needs financially although He has never failed to do that!  What this does (in my life and yours) is it causes our spiritual life to be more of a waffle rather than a pancake. We have many compartments. Some are labeled, “God’s” and some are labeled, “Mine” when the ideal picture is for our lives to be a flat surface (pancake) with one large “GOD’S” label.

Jesus taught in Matthew 6:31-34 to “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness…for your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these [other] things.” He knows our circumstances and He knows our needs. If we will stay focused on Him instead of all the “other,” we will grow spiritually.

Fault Finding

“God gives us discernment in the lives of others to call us to intercession for them, never so that we may find fault with them.”  -Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

If there is one truth in the world that no one would dare try and refute, it would have to be the truth that no one is perfect. There is just no doubt in any of our minds that we are flawed and that those around us seem to be in the same sad situation. God makes this clear for us through the words of Paul in Romans 3:23. “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The saddest part about all of this is that our sinful flesh loves to discover and parade the faults of those around us while we strive unceasingly to mask our own short comings. Church, let us try honesty and openness for a time and see what happens! Let’s humble ourselves, put down our own walls, get real with ourselves and others, and maybe…just maybe…FBC Monticello can be known in this community for what God intended it to be known: The Safest Place on Earth! Hey, why don’t we start now?!