Bartimaeus Baptist Temple

Hello friends.  I hope and pray you are all finding joy in the Lord this week, knowing we all face difficult circumstances.  I for one always like it when we return to standard time.  I feel like I got back the hour that was stolen away earlier in the year.

I spoke with Cindy after I got home on Sunday and she is fine.  She will tell us all about her adventures next week.  Pris was in a lot of pain.  Keep praying for her and also for Kimi.  I don’t have any new information on Bobbi.

This Sunday, we will Finish up John Chapter 1 with a focus on verses 35-39. This is an account of the beginning of Jesus’ ministry as he begins to gather his first disciples.  After John the baptist points Him out as the “lamb of God,” two of John’s disciples begin following Him as He walks.  When Jesus notices them, He asks them a simple but powerful question, “What do you seek?”

When speaking to a church, there’s a pretty good chance everyone listening would call themselves followers of Jesus.  Some have taken to using the term “Christ follower” instead of Christian, noting that the latter term has become merely a cultural or familial reference.  But one may follow for many reasons.  Jesus is not content to have picked up a couple of hangers-on.  He want’s to know what it is they are truly after.

That’s a good question for us.  What do we seek?  Is Jesus little more than an insurance man for us?  Can we check in with Him once in a while and make sure the fire policy is up to date and then go off on our own way again?  Or is He the Christianized equivalent of a genie who will grant us wishes if we make Him happy?  Are we seeking His face, or only His hand?

The disciples responded with another question, “Where are you staying?”  That was a polite way of asking for a visit.  Thus the implied answer is, “we seek You!”  We want to be where You are!  That is my desire for us as individuals and as a church.  I want us to be where Jesus is.  I don’t want to be where He’s been and left, trying to get Him to come back.  I want to hear His voice and follow Him to where He is staying now and wherever He goes next!  Come join us and let’s follow Him together!

Dearly loved ones, I’m always so glad to see you on Sundays.  I wish we could spend more time together.  I was so thankful to see Kimi and Pris there for this week’s service.  We had some good discussion and I’m glad we are able to do that.  As we grow, we need to maintain the ability to minister to each other at that level.  I look forward to the day when we need to work that out.  They were not able to stay for the whole time though.  Please remember Kimi in your prayers.

Also pray for Bobbi.  Yesterday I learned that she was in the hospital and they almost lost her several times.  At last report they had her stabilized, but needed to determine the source of internal bleeding.  Pray for her and all of her family.

Each week, I do try to have something fresh and new to share with you, or at least old enough that it sounds new.  But this week I have a purpose in bringing back something a little more recent.  The book of John is one of my favorites.  If I could only pick parts of the bible to share with someone, I would choose John because it explains who Jesus is, and Romans because it explains what to do with that knowledge.  Over the years, I have probably spent more time in these books, and my collection of sermon outlines shows it.  I’d like to cover them completely someday, but since we meet just once a week, I feel compelled to try to speak more directly to the immediate needs of the church rather than engage in a long series on a given book or topic.

With the goal of someday achieving full coverage in mind, I found my notes from John 1:1-5 and decided to pick up in verse 6 to continue the teaching, but it will be more powerful of we refresh our memories.  Thus we begin at the beginning, and the Sunday after we’ll keep going, Lord willing.

We sing about Jesus.  We often pray to Jesus.  We end our prayers in Jesus’s name.  We talk about knowing Jesus, but sometimes I wonder if many who go by the name Christian really get who Jesus is.  I dare say we all picture Him as less than what He is most of the time.
Our pictures certainly do not depict Him as He is now, and most are not even close to what he probably looked like while He was here.  Turn to Chapter 1 of Revelation to get as close as we are likely to get to what He might look like if he appeared today.  What we need to understand is who He is.  For that we can turn to the Gospel of John.  John opens his account with this, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  Know this, and everything else falls into place.  May the Word open our hearts.

Love y’all!

Larry

For those who may not have heard, it has been a difficult time for some of our church family, so I wanted to start out by asking you to pray.  Leann let me know last night that her mom was to go in for heart surgery.  I understand from Linda that it went well.  Pray for healing inside and out.  Kimi has not been doing well.  My understanding is that she is to see a cardiologist next and they are changing her medications.  She would not be deterred from joining us last Sunday though.  That’s the spirit we love!

If someone asked you to make a list of things that someone would go to Hell for, you could probably think of a few.  The evil world around us supplies plenty of examples.  Would you include mean words in that list?  If you read Matthew 5:22, Jesus apparently did.  I always thought that was kind of harsh, but what is He really saying?  To put it in context, we need to read from verse 21 through 24 at minimum.  The problem begins in our hearts, and if left unchecked, will lead to our destruction.  We need to take action and do what we can to make things right.  Above all, we need to have our own hearts right.  Join us on Sunday as we ask, “Who you callin’ a fool?”

Love y’all!

Larry

Dear friends, before i go on with the usual account of what has been and will be, God willing, I want to share a prayer request from our friend, Jay, that I received via text yesterday. Jacob has been having multiple seizures daily for weeks.  His recovery time is longer and it is affecting his speech.  Jay is having constant dull pain in both legs and one foot as well as constant aches in joints. since he was in the hospital with COVID. His doctor thinks all the issues are from the extreme inflammation due to long covid.  We pray for healing, that the name of the Lord will be glorified.

“Nobody’s perfect.”  You hear that all the time.  Sometimes we’re excusing our own faults.  Other times, we’re acknowledging fault in someone else while attempting to be gracious about it.  But the truth remains.  Nobody is perfect, and neither is anything we create.  There is one exception to that rule.  His name is Jesus.  Now comes the scary part.  He told us to be perfect too! (Matthew 5:48)  How are we supposed to do that?  Is he setting us up for failure?  Not at all!  He didn’t just give us the command.  He told us how to do it.  Come join us Sunday and learn how to be perfect!  🙂

love y’all,

Larry

It’s that time again when we celebrate God’s work in our church over the years with Homecoming Sunday.  We’ll meet a little earlier than usual, at 2:00, to make sure we have plenty of time.  We have been through a tough season but we still believe in our mission.  God is not finished with us yet.  We’ll have a little special music.  I’ll share a message that I believe God has put into my heart for this time from Matthew 28:18-20, and then we’ll enjoy some good food and fellowship.  It’s a great opportunity to bring a friend.

Love y’all!

Larry