Bartimaeus Baptist Temple

Hello loved ones.  I hope that God’s goodness has been evident to you this week.  Here’s some more good stuff coming your way.

We missed Priscilla last week and those she brings with her on the bus, but we still had good attendance.  She is doing better and I expect everything back to normal this Sunday.  In Sunday school Linda gave us the “secret of endurance” and I spoke on throwing off the old self and putting on the new.  The podcast episodes are there if you missed it.

Monday will be Memorial Day,  when we remember those who have given their lives in service to our country.  As I thought about that this week, I asked myself, “what are you willing to die for?”  With our tenancy toward hyperbolic speech, that phrase, “to die for,” gets used a lot now.  It makes me sad when I hear it, because it is usually used in reference to something that is absolutely not worth dying for, like a really good dish or a pleasurable experience.

But there are things in this life worth dying for.  If asked most of us might list one or two things for which we would willingly risk or even give up our lives, but we usually do so from the comfortable assumption that we will probably not be required to make good on our word.  If the time should come, how many of us would fold like Peter on the night of Jesus’ trial?  I hope we’ll never have to find out, but we may take comfort in the knowledge that Peter was restored and went on to have a key roll in God’s young church.

Jesus thought something important enough to die for.  I should say, “someone.”  That someone was you!  That someone was me!  Our text will be from Romans 5:1-8.  My sermon will definitely not be to die for, but we’ll see what is.

Pray for each other.  Encourage and help each other.  I should say keep on doing that, as we have some shining examples among us.  Let’s not forget to thank them for all that they do. See you Sunday!

Love y’all,

Larry

Wishing all of you wonderful mom’s out there a happy Mothers Day, here’s your just-in-time update.

Lately I’ve been feeling a sense of hope.  Sometimes I still wonder how God is going to turn things around.  We still have barely enough people to do the minimum that has defined who we are for all these years.  We’re not getting any healthier, and we don’t have the resources we used to have.  Yet I believe that He has not withdrawn His hand from us.  He is in the process of doing a new thing.  By His power we are going to come back stronger than ever and set a new standard for ministry through people challenged by disability.

Last week Priscilla spoke to this, reminding us to put the past in perspective and move forward into God’s future.  I spoke of our calling to become a church of disciples who make disciples.  If you didn’t get to come, check out the podcast.

This Sunday is Mothers day.  I used to resent days like this, but I look at them differently now.  Why not take the opportunities they provide.  Sure, we should love our mothers all year long, but we all get caught up in life and maybe we forget to honor them as we should.  So yes, like other similar days it’s been overrun with commercialism, but I choose to take it as a reminder to show a little extra love to my very special mother.

It’s not a happy day for everyone.  Some lament the passing of their loved ones on this day.  Some grieve over broken relationships.  Our fallen world affords myriad ways for good things to go bad.

As believers, we look to God’s word for comfort and for instruction.  Does it have any advice on how we relate to our mothers?  Yes, it does.  And Jesus Himself provides us with a model by His conduct, recorded by the authors of the Gospels.  We will examine four passages: Luke 2:46-52, John 2:3-5, Mark 3:32-35, and John 19:26-27.  Read the surrounding verses for a bit more context.

Come and join us as we celebrate our mothers and the loving Father who gave them to us.

Love y’all!

Larry

Hello loved ones. I hope you’re having a wonderful week, even if it’s a little wet too.

It was a beautiful day on Sunday, a perfect day for celebrating the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. It was great to see most all of you back at church. I hope you were blessed by what you heard. If you didn’t get to come, the podcast episodes are up.

Recently someone said something to me that got me thinking. How do we get into a mindset that says, “I can’t?” We all face challenges. We all have limitations. There are some things we really can’t do, but for most of us that list is longer in our heads than in reality. Sometimes the pressures and challenges of life wear us down. “I cant” becomes our defense and retreat. The added complication of disability can magnify this tendency.

But is that the way we should think as followers of Jesus? When our power source is the power that created the universe, is there ever room for “I can’t?” Maybe, but not when it comes to doing what He wants you to do, whether it involves something He’s given you specifically or simply doing what is right.

This Sunday we’re going to look at Philippians 4:12-13. Verse 13 is the one we all know. I’ve included verse 12 to provide some context. The context may seem to narrow the scope of the verse somewhat,, and it is important for us to understand what is actually being said. However, I think this chapter contains some very useful advice for changing the way we think so that through the power of God, “I can’t” becomes “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.”

By Sunday the rain should be gone, but I’m hoping we can flood that building with people and praise to the Most High. Come help us make it happen!

Love y’all!

Larry

Hello loved ones.  Blessings to you from the Lord of life.  Keep reading to find out what’s happening in this little church serving a big God.

We missed our bus riders last Sunday because Priscilla and Kimi were both home sick with bronchitis.  Keep praying for a speedy recovery and for an end to this string of illnesses they’ve been experiencing.  It was good to see Teresa again.  We had a little fun in Sunday School with some Bible trivia flash cards that Linda sent along.  I thought I might get some ideas of topics to cover from it, but y’all proved to know your Bibles pretty well.  That’s encouraging to me.  I know most of us have been in church a while, but sadly that doesn’t always mean as much as it should.  I spoke on the importance of our words and how we use them.  It was a short one, so if you missed it check out the podcast.

On Monday we found out that Tim had a seizure after going home Sunday night.  As you may have seen in the prayer requests, he checked out ok and they sent him home on Monday morning.  I talked to Cindy tonight and she said he’s getting back to normal except that he is having trouble with peripheral vision and has now picked up a respiratory bug.  Keep lifting him in prayer.

This Sunday is what we call Palm Sunday.  It marks the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem amid worshiping crowds, waiving palm branches IN salute of the one they probably imagined was about to topple the Roman rulers and restore Israel to its former glory.  He would indeed be their deliverer, but not in the way they expected.  How things would change in that city in just a few days!

This gran appearance is chronicled by all four of the gospel authors, but with varying degrees of detail.  Examining each account reveals something new about the events surrounding this bold and provocative act of Jesus.  It becomes clear that He knew exactly what he was doing, what it meant, and what it would set in motion.  For the sake of time and because we’ve recently studied one of the events it mentions, we’ll read the shorter of these accounts from John 12:12-19.  As background you may wish to read from Matthew 21:1-11, Mark 11:1-11, and Luke 19:28-44.

I’ll see you Sunday, ready to rejoice as we remember what our God has done for us.  Come on in and bring a friend!

Love you all,

Larry

Blessings to you, friends and Family of BBT.  I know there aren’t many of you who get online and read these posts, but I once read some good advice from an accomplished author and blogger.  He said to write like everyone is reading it until they are.  Well, my ambitions aren’t quite that grand, but I do believe in what we’re doing here.  We have an opportunity to expand online beyond what we could ever achieve from a physical location.  We’ll spread the message far and wide that God has a plan and a purpose for all people, regardless of circumstance or disability.  So with that, here’s our weekly chronicle.

Last week we continued a tradition.  I don’t know that it was ever acknowledged as such, but as I think back, it was something Pastor David always did.  Whether or not a formal memorial service was planned for one of our own who left us for the Heavenly realm, we always took the time to acknowledge their lives and share our memories of them.  In some cases that is all the recognition they would receive.  We do it during our service because of the difficulty of transporting everyone at a different time or place and the fact that they might not otherwise have opportunity to participate.

I did not appreciate fully the importance of this practice until confronted with these last two home-goings that we took time to acknowledge in our services last week.  Part of our mission is to affirm the value of all people, regardless of status or ability.  Funerals are for those of us still living here.  Those who are now living with Jesus probably aren’t much concerned with what we do in their honor.  They are with their Lord, friend, and creator.  Whatever love and care they lacked here has been more than compensated.  But we must remember.  We must be true to who we are.  We must honor them as we would any friend or family member.  And let it be a reminder to us to treat those who are yet here with us with the same love and respect.

A couple of years back, Pastor David went through every member currently attending, conducting a short monthly interview in which we all got to know each other a little better.  I’m grateful for these now as I attempt to take up his mantel.  I’m thinking of resuming the practice ones we have a few more regulars.  We were able to use these, most of which were recorded or filmed, to help remember the lives of Lisa Garza and John Beaty last week.  I reposted them as podcast episodes so you can find them there.  You will also find my message there from Jesus’ conversation with Martha before He would raise Lazarus from the dead.

This week will be our Fifth Sunday Fellowship.  We’ll forgo the Sunday School session in order to make time for the dinner after the service.  I hope you’ll make the most of these times that we have together since it’s hard for some of us to enjoy each other’s company as much as we might like.  It’s also a great time to bring visitors!

This week’s message is something that has been on my heart for a while.  We don’t have a lot of young people, but we have seen a couple of new faces over the past few months.  I’ve been thinking about the messages they’re getting at school.  I’ve also been thinking about the messages we’re all bombarded with every day.  They tell us we are who we are because of genetics and we can’t change.  They tell us anything we want to do is ok so long as we don’t hurt anyone, but the world doesn’t really know what is harmful and what is good.

Sometimes the church doesn’t help.  We rightly condemn sin, but then we tell those who might want to stop that they can’t.  Some will even say that God has made an arbitrary decision about all of us and we have no say at all.  Where is the hope in that?  Or we condemn the sinner.  In stead of sharing love and hope we share judgment and rejection.  Can we learn to love the sinner without condoning the sin?  We must!

In this message I want to shut down some vicious lies with a central truth.  You are not who the world says you are.  You are not even who you you think you are.  You are who God says you are!  It may be that who you are is not who you should be, but that’s why Jesus came.  We’re going to read from 1 Corinthians 6:9-11.  As always we will consider the context, but there’s an important message just in these 3 verses.  After a laundry list of people who won’t get into God’s kingdom, he makes this key statement in verse 11, “Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.”  When you commit your life to Jesus, He changes who you are!

Please join us this Sunday.  We’ll have a great time together!

Love y’all.

Larry