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.

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.

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

Giving as of September 2, 2020

From our Family and Music Minister

Several years back, at summer camp, we took our youth to an adventure course. Before you begin the course, they put you in a harness, and they connect you to a safety line.  After you start, there are only two ways to get off the course without completely going through it.  A staff member climbs out to you and connects another line to you and lowers you to the ground while everyone waits, or if you have not gone too far, you can backtrack to the start if no one else is behind you.

Some of our youth had no problem; they went straight through the course.  Others took some time, but they made through. But there was also a small group of teenagers that only made it through because they had no choice. They did not want the consequences or humiliation of having to be rescued. The number one reason our young people and others would struggle was the height of the obstacles. If they were only a foot off of the ground versus 20 feet, the level of difficulty would drastically drop.  However, due to the heights, they focused on that instead of completing the relatively easy obstacle.

Our walk with Christ is similar to the experience the youth had on the ropes course. In that, we know we may have challenges, but we commit and don’t turn back to anything that the world has to offer. When we think about obeying Christ, focusing on things of the world can easily distract us. To follow Christ fully, we must respond with immediate obedience to His call without worrying about what we are leaving behind.

As Jesus began to call His disciples, they left behind what they were comfortable with and followed Him.  They responded to Jesus’ calling without letting things of the world hold them back.  They focused on Christ and the path He had laid out for them.  David reminds us in his Psalm that when we follow God, we don’t have to fear.

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
       I will fear no evil,
           for you are with me;
       your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.                                                       Psalms 23:4

No matter what this world throws at us, we are not to fear because God will guide us.  As some of the youth struggled to make it through the course, they may have felt fear; however, they honestly had nothing to fear.  If they fell, the rope would have caught them. If we truly place our trust in God and focus on Him, He will guide our path and will always be that safety line to catch us when we let the world take our focus off of Him.

SUNDAY SCHOOL LIVE STREAM

Carl Hobbs, the teacher for Christians Under Construction, is teaching live on Facebook each Sunday at 9:30 AM. Everyone is welcome to join.

To Join: Search for Carl Hobbs on Facebook. You will then see a link to join on his page.

Call Jonathan if you have any issues.