Blessings to you, loved ones.  Here’s what’s happening at BBT.

Last Sunday was a little different.  The air conditioning was out in the sanctuary, so we met in the back.  We had a small crowd due in part to the van being in for repairs and a major traffic incident that kept us from picking up Dede and Anita.  Hopefully things will be back to normal for this Sunday.

We still had a great service. The more intimate setting allowed us to do things a little differently and have a special time of prayer at the end of the service.  The recording did not come out as well as i thought it would for the lessons, but thanks to the wonders of modern technology I was able to pull out the voices and cut out some of the background noise.  If you missed the service, please do check out the podcast.  I really want you to hear what the Lord was saying.

Next week we’ll celebrate Independence day.  Many of us will get the day off.  There will be barbecue and fireworks and hopefully a bit of remembering why we celebrate and what it costs to keep it.  I expect on Sunday we’ll be singing the usual patriotic songs as we thank the Lord for the great country in which we live.  I’m glad that we sing all the verses to these.  They illustrate our Christian heritage.

You might expect then that I will share something along the same lines.  Believe me, I would rather, but God seems to be insistent that I stick to the topics that had been on my heart before I realized this would be the Sunday before the 4th.  Maybe it is because we are at such a critical point in our life as a church and we must lay out the principles upon which we will stand.  He has brought us this far, but if we do not choose holiness, we can have no expectation that He will permit us to continue.  For many of us, this will be a review of the obvious, but I hope that I can give you insight into ways that you can communicate these truths to those for whom they are not.  It does in fact have relevance to the message of freedom, because if we as individuals and as a nation reject God’s truth we can never be truly free.  We will cover the 1st 12 verses of 1 Thessalonians 4, but for the sake of our youngsters we will start reading from verse 6.

Please pray for each other this week and stay in touch.  It’s hard for us to do much more than meet together on Sunday, but we can share with each other by other means.  Your phone call or even just an encouraging text message might be just the thing someone needs on a tough day.  Remember you are a vital part of this church and God has a job for you.  We need you!

Be blessed to be a blessing!

Larry