DEACON ELECTION

Dear First Baptist Family,

In the recent deacon nomination, you requested that Dwane Lewis and Dan Raines serve as deacons for the term expiring 2023.  Both of these men have agreed to serve.

Ordinarily, we could have a called conference for you to approve them by secret ballot.  However, due to Covid-19, we cannot use paper ballots.  Please use the link emailed out or call Nikki @ 567-9320 to vote to confirm these men. If you are a church member and didn’t receive and email, please let Jonathan know. Deadline to vote is this Friday, September 13.

We thank Dwane and Dan for their willingness to serve and your participation in the process. 

Giving as of September 9, 2020

MID-WEEK DEVOTION

Don’t forget to check out Brother David’s Mid-Week Devotion on the book of Psalms. They are uploaded each Wednesday on the sermon page.

From Our Pastor

     How we need God’s guidance in these days!  Never before have we faced such a deliberate campaign of lies, misinformation and propaganda.  We desperately need to seek and follow the Lord’s guidance.  The consequences of not following the Lord are frightening.

     Israel’s experience with the Gibeonites in Joshua 9 shows the importance of seeking and following the Lord’s guidance.  The Gibeonites were a people group who lived in the land that God had promised Israel.  It was God’s will for Israel to leave all that land.

     The Gibeonites knew of God’s promise of the land to Israel and fooled into making a treaty with them.  They sent envoys wearing worn out clothes and carrying dried out bread.  The envoys told Israel they were from a distant country, and they wanted a treaty with Israel.

     The men of Israel listened to the story.  They looked at the envoy’s clothes.  They tried the old bread.  The men of Israel “bought” the story “hook, line, and sinker.”  Unfortunately, verse 14 says …”the men of Israel … did not ask for the counsel of the Lord.”

     What happened?  Three days later Israel realized they had been duped.  Later, Israel had to go to war to protect the Gibeonites! All of that was because they had not sought God’s guidance.  How we need to learn from their mistake! 

     How can we know God’s guidance?  First, we must submit to God’s leadership.  The willingness to obey is necessary for God to reveal Himself, His ways, and His will (John 7:17).  The first step in discovering what God wants us to do is to be willing to do what He reveals unto us.

     Next, we must study the Scriptures.  They are God’s inspired Word in which He grows, leads and strengthens us.  They are also the standard for evaluating every thought, plan and decision (Joshua 1:8; 2 Timothy 2:15; 3:16-17).

     Third, we seek God in prayer.  He invites us to come to His throne for help (Hebrews 4:16).  He promises to answer in great and mighty ways (Jeremiah 33:3).  We need to seek God in prayer.

     Last, we search for His work.  David wrote, “In the morning O Lord, You will hear my voice; in the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch” (Psalm 5:3).  As we study God’s Word and seek Him in prayer, we look to see His answer.  As Blackaby wrote, God speaks through His Word, His people and through circumstances.  We search all of these to see God’s leading.  We follow as God reveals the way that He wants us to go. 

     These are frightening and confusing times.  Fortunately, we don’t have to face them in our own wisdom.  Our Father will guide us if we follow Him.