Church Confrence

Church conference will be held Sunday, November 15th, following the morning worship service.

Hellyn Jordan memorial services Nov. 21

Memorial Service for Hellyn L. Jordan will be held at 2:00 PM Saturday, Nov. 21, in the sanctuary of Ashburn First United Methodist Church. An Open House to review and remember her many accomplishments will be in the church’s social hall from 2:30-6:00. Drop-in at your convenience during that time and browse through newspaper articles, awards, and momentos of this remarkable lady.

Giving as of November 11, 2020

Budget for 2020 . . . . . . . .  $326,787.00
Tithes Needed to Date . . .  $263,943.54
Received to Date . . . . . . . . $230,171.96
Needed for weekly budget . . . . . .  $6,284.37
Tithes Received this week . . . . . . $9,376.30
Tithes Received Nov. 1 . . . . . . . .  $5,168.00

Harvest Day Offering. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $12,176.00

OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD

Collection week for Operation Christmas Child is fast approaching.  Due to COVID, First Baptist did not make boxes this year for vacation bible school, but we can still supply boxes to this great ministry. There are a few ways you can participate in the ministry.

1. Pick up an empty OCC box from the sanctuary or church office, make your box, and bring It to our collection center during collections week.
2. You can create and pay for a box on the OCC website.  https://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/buildonline/
3. If you do not want to pack your own box, you can drop supplies off at the church offices. We have a few church members that will fill boxes from supplies dropped off. To comply with social distancing, we will not have a church-wide packing party.

Allowed Items: Toothbrushes, baseball caps, playing cards, coloring books, scissors (Fiskers-child size), children’s socks, flip flops, bandannas, plastic animals/bugs, small cars dolls, hair barrettes/bands/bows, costume jewelry, stickers, party favor toys, tools (hammer, screwdriver, nails, screws) 

 Items that are not allowed due to customs regulations are toothpaste, candy, liquids (soap, shampoo, lotion, mouthwash, deodorant, etc.), war toys, and glass items. 

CAMP POST OFFICE

Unfortunately, we will not have a camp post office this year.  Due to COVID, we believe this is the best choice for the health of our congregation.

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 Family and Music Minister

One of the many lessons my parents tried to instill in me was being accountable for my actions. They taught that even though I may not see the immediate consequences of bad decisions, at some point, those consequences would come to light. Unfortunately, accountability is not something our world holds in high regard, especially when it comes to sin. We try to justify our sin by the world around us and what the world considers right and wrong.

When I was a junior in high school, my English class decided to put on a Broadway play. I was in charge of all the sound and lighting, which meant I was at every after-school practice. As the play got closer, we had to start practicing at night. The headmaster came to me and said that I would be the last one to leave for several reasons.  I knew how to cut off the gym lights, the doors were sometimes hard to lock, and our English teacher didn’t need to walk to her car by herself.

On one Saturday, we had group practices, so I had to be there all day. The teacher wanted to work with the two lead characters a little longer, so she told me that she knew how to lock up and cut off the gym lights. I even reminded the guy staying that he couldn’t leave until the teacher was in her car safely. So everything was covered, and I went off to eat supper with my friends.

The next Monday at school, just as my first class was getting started, I got a call over the intercom to report to the front office. To make a long story short, the teacher did not know how to cut off the gym lights. She got them off, but in the process, turned off all the freezers that contained the food for school lunches the next week.  So not only did the school have to get a pizza place to cover lunches that day, they had to reorder all the food for that week. Fortunately for me, the teacher told the headmaster how she insisted I leave, but somehow, I still felt the disappointment he had in me.

Even though the teacher took the blame, what happened was still my fault. The headmaster had given me reasons to be the last one to leave, and he knew my parents would agree with him.  Romans 14: 11-12 states,” As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.  So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.”  As Christians, we are saved from the penalty of sin, but all of us will still provide an account to God. Just because the teacher took the blame, the consequences of my actions remained. 

In my opinion, one of the easiest ways to remain accountable for your actions is to have an excellent accountability partner. Your accountability partner should be someone who cares about you, someone you can trust, someone who will constructively tell you the truth, someone who will pray for you, and someone who will lift you up and not bring you down. I decided to leave that day because my friend told me to come on; he was ready to eat.  It was not his fault, but it sure would have been better if he had encouraged me the other way.

I was given freedom as a student because of my teachers’ trust. Because of that trust, they expected better things out of me. God has given us so much, and in return, we should be accountable for things that we do and how we live. Luke writes in his gospel, “And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.” As Christians, we are “in the know”. We know that Jesus covers our sins, but we also have the Holy Spirit that lets us know when we sin against our Creator.  We have God’s Word to learn about Him and the expectations He has for His children.

I will admit in my situation that I knew the right thing to do.  But I chose to do what I wanted to do at the time. It was easy for me to justify my choice.  I even had someone to take the blame that kept me from getting into trouble.  How often do we justify the sin in our lives because we don’t believe we will be held accountable.   We are to be good stewards of the time and resources God has given to us. We must use them wisely because one day, we will stand before the throne of God and be accountable for the choices we have made.