Homecoming CLeanup

A clean-up day has been planned for August 3, 2024, at 8:00 AM to help prepare the church for homecoming. If anyone can help, please make plans to attend.

Attention Sunday School Classes: Plan to straighten up your classroom before homecoming. Don’t fear the dumpster; it can be your best friend.

Operation Christmas Child

To prepare for OCC, we will gather the following items over the next several months. A box will be located outside Nikki’s office.

June Items
Small Toys, Flip-flops,
Ball caps for boys, Socks

July Items
Tools that will fit in a shoe box,
School Supplies, Washcloths.

Preparing for Homecoming on August 25, 2024

On August 25, 2024, First Baptist will celebrate 135 years of ministry in the heart of Ashburn. As we prepare for this special homecoming event, we need your help. If you have the names and addresses of past members or staff, we could send an invitation to please get them to Nikki in the church office: email nikkibrewer@fbcashburn.com or 229-567-9320.

Giving as of July 16, 2024

Budget for 2024 . . . . . . . .  $329,423.00
Tithes Needed to Date . . . . $177,381.26
Received to Date . . . . . . . . $145,459.26
Needed for weekly budget . . .  $6,335.00
Tithes Received this week . . .   $5,270.00

MID-WEEK DEVOTION

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

From Our Family and Music Minister

While intending to clean the house, I have been known to get started and realize there is something wrong with the vacuum cleaner. So I take it to my work table and start to halfway finish a project already laid out so I can work on the vacuum cleaner. Then I go to the computer and look up a Youtube video on fixing the vacuum cleaner, and before I find the video, I get sucked down a rabbit hole of other videos that have come up. Then I realize I need to check my e-mail while I am at the computer, which usually leads to me doing something else. Before long, two hours have passed, the vacuum is still broken, the house isn’t clean, and I am in the middle of another project distracted from what I was supposed to be doing.

The Israelites seem to suffer from the same kind of problem. Even though they had seen the mighty hand of God as they were brought out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and the edge of the Promised Land, they still didn’t trust God completely. They too quickly let sin distract them, and they abandoned their faith. This is why in the book of Deuteronomy, Moses tells the Israelites, “And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.” (Deuteronomy 6:7)

The believers were to talk constantly about God’s commandments when they sat at home, walked along the road throughout the day, laid down, and got up. Believers were to live by the commandments, experience them, obey them, and set an example before their children. The meaning of the word Deutrernonmy is “repetition of the law.” As Moses was preparing the next generation of Israelites to enter the promised land, he wanted them to remember what caused their ancestors to roam in the desert for 40 years.

Moses did not want them to forget the faults of those before them. They complained about the manna God had given them to help feed them. Then, as Moses left their sight to receive the law of God, they created a false god and worshiped it. They also refused to attack the Amorites when God told them to, which eventually led to a defeat in the desert. Because of their lack of faith, they were forced to roam the desert and were never able to experience the land that God had promised them. Moses wanted this generation to remember all the ways God had been faithful and to share it with the next generation so they wouldn’t suffer the same consequences of sin and forget God’s goodness.

As believers today, we must be careful not to judge the first exodus generation. Christians should sympathize with them, for their sins are our sins. How often do we grumble and complain to God about the daily bread the Lord graciously provides us, selfishly thinking we deserve better or believing we are entitled to something greater? How often do we erect idols in our lives, bowing down and worshipping false gods instead of the God who gave us life? How often do we disobey the call of Christ and the command of the Lord because we think we know better? The failures of the Israelites can easily be seen in our daily lives. Therefore, we must apply Moses’ commands to the Israelites in our own lives.

We, as Christians, must read the Bible daily and cherish God’s Word in our hearts. We need to teach the children in our lives by telling them about Christ and living it out. We need to be in regular prayer with God and not forget to meet with other Christians. We need to do all of this daily so that sin will not distract us from our relationship with our Creator.