The Bartimaeus Blog 2018.13

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

It was good to be with you all last Sunday.  It felt comfortable, like being at home.  That’s the way church should feel and i hope you all feel the same.  We welcomed two visitors that Pris brought from Brentwood and they joined right in.  Pris talked about waiting on the Lord and trusting in Him, and I wrapped up our study of Romans chapters 12-13.

There was a little excitement before service though.  When I got to the church, Cathy was out front talking to a policeman.  It seems we had an attempted break-in the night before, but nothing else inside the building was disturbed or stolen.  We don’t know what happened, but we thank the Lord for His protection.

Keep praying for each other.  We have quite a few facing major health challenges who could use a miracle.  We know someone who does those!  Cathy wrote in from our Facebook page with another request, but thanks to Facebook not labeling everything properly for screen readers I accidentally made it disappear before I could capture the text.

We’ve officially entered the Christmas season now, so for the next few weeks I will offer some observations about events surrounding the birth of our Lord.  This week’s message didn’t originate with me, but in fact it’s highly unlikely that I or anyone else is going to come up with idea from this text that hasn’t been thought of in 2,000 years.  I heard someone point this one out and it stuck with me.

The Gospel of Luke gives us two accounts of angelic visitations in the first chapter.  The first is to Zacharias, a priest serving in the temple.  The second is to Mary, a young lady engaged to be married who learns she’s about to be pregnant!  Both receive news of a miracle, but their responses differ in one very important detail.  They both ask questions, but one asks from doubt, the other from faith.

Few if any of us can expect a visit from an angel, but we are confronted with the same choice that Zacharias and Mary had.  Will we choose to believe God even when what He says doesn’t seem possible, or will we question him in doubt.  Mary’s question was one of curiosity.  In other words, “How are You going to do that?”  Zacharias’ question was one of skepticism, “prove to me that You can do that.”  We all have questions, and that’s OK.  Let them be questions from faith and not from doubt.

Love y’all!  See you Sunday!

Larry

The Bartimaeus Blog 2018.12

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Blessings to you, loved ones.  I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We have been given so much.  We are blessed to live in a country that still sets aside a day meant for giving thanks to God. I realized late last night that I didn’t publish this week’s update, so here I am on Sunday morning.  Good thing our church services are in the afternoon!  🙂

While we’re on the topic of giving thanks, thanks to Gigi Firth, a member of the Dallas Christian Fellowship of the Blind that meets in our building every 4th Saturday, for her donation of braille paper and binders for use in preparing braille transcriptions of the overheads that we hand out to those who want them.  It is something I am thrilled that we are able to do because I always wished churches I attended could do it for me.

It was good to see most everyone back last week and I hope you were encouraged by what Linda and I had to share with you.  We serve a good God who loves us more than we can no.  Hold on to this when circumstances don’t seem to fit.

Today I am going back to Romans 13:8-14.  Paul is wrapping up the themes he has been developing for the last several chapters and it didn’t seem right to move away from without looking into these next few verses.  I can sum it up in a word, “love!”

I would love to see you there!

Larry

The Bartimaeus Blog 2018.11

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Blessings to you, loved ones.  Read on to learn what’s going on at BBT.

We had a great time last week!  I was disappointed so many had to miss out, but we got to meet some new people who came in for Leanne’s 21st birthday celebration hosted by her family.  It has been a challenging year to put it mildly.  I think everyone enjoyed having something good to celebrate. I’m looking forward to many more.  We also met a new student from DTS who will join us for the next few weeks.  If you didn’t get to meet him last wee, be sure and say hello to Dustin this Sunday and make him welcome.

Pray for those who are sick, most of whom are mentioned in our prayer requests.  Leanne said that John is not looking well.  I did get a call from Kelvin.  He is feeling better and wanted to be sure we pick him up next Sunday.  I am delighted to see people that eager to come to church.  That’s the way it should be.

This week I was going to cap off the sort of mini series I have been doing from Romans 12 and 13.  I’ll come back to that, but I started thinking about how it is the Sunday before Thanksgiving and how it might be a tough one for some of us this year.  It has been a rough ride.  I have only been here a little over 10 years, but i don’t know that I’ve seen anything like it, and that is not including losing our beloved pastor.  One might be forgiven for wondering just what it is we have to be thankful for.  Oh so much!  This is not a lecture on all the reasons we should be thankful.  It is an exploration of how good our God is and all the reasons why we can take comfort that He is still here and loves us as much as ever.  I hope you come away encouraged, strengthened, and comforted.  We will not dig deeply into one passage this week, but if we need a theme from scripture, I will choose Psalm 118:28-29.

I am thankful for all of you and hope to see you Sunday.

Love y’all!

Larry

The Bartimaeus Blog 2018.10

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Blessings to you, friends and Family of BBT.  Read on for your weekly update.

I enjoyed our service last Sunday.  Priscilla engaged us in a time of sharing about our hopes for the church.  You hear mine all the time, so I stayed quiet and let everyone else talk.  I will only say that whatever we want to be, it is going to take all of us working together and led by His Spirit to make it happen.  I appreciate the way so many of you have joined in the work.

I have been taking us through Romans, chapter 12.  We finished that last week and I thought it was a fitting conclusion given all of the discord in our country right now.  I hope we can all learn to engage with each other and with those who disagree with us in a respectful and redemptive way.  Always speak the truth, but always in love and with the realization that though truth remains, none of us have it all.

But Paul still isn’t done.  He’s been addressing our relationships in ever expanding spheres, and now we come to government.  I did not plan all of this based on timing, but I can’t help think that the Lord did.  We just had an election.  I think I can safely say that none of us got everything we wanted.  I don’t know anyone who is completely satisfied with our government from either side of the political spectrum.  Some think it should do more.  Others think it does way too much already.  Some see it as corrupt and unjust while others consider it basically good.  What can we do and what should we do to address what we see as problems in our government?

Chapter 13 of Romans begins with a statement that may be hard for us to swallow.  Most of us recognize the need for law and order and don’t have a problem with the idea that we should submit to proper authority, but what about the next part?  The end of verse 1 reads, “there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.”  How can that be?  How can a government that does evil things be established by God?  As governments go ours is pretty good, but we have some real problems.  Consider that Paul is writing as a citizen of Rome, hardly a model for a Godly nation.  We will read from Romans 13:1-7 and apply it to our world today.

I’m looking forward to seeing you there. We won’t have Sunday school so that there will be time for an event after church.  Pray for each other. Look out for each other.  Stay connected.

Love y’all!

Larry

The Bartimaeus Blog 2018.9

Bartimaeus Baptist Temple Posted on by

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

I really enjoyed the service last Sunday.  Priscilla did such a great job with the Sunday school lesson I wondered if I shouldn’t just end it right there so people would think about what she had to say.  We missed having Edith for the worship, but it went pretty well this time with the canned music I was able to find.  I enjoyed sharing with you from Romans 12 as we continue the study of Paul’s teaching on living a transformed life.

Paul wasn’t done yet, so I’m not either, and I think what he has to say next is very appropriate with what’s happening around us right now.  He has instructed us on our relationship to God and then to others in the church.  Now he seems to be moving outward to address how we relate to the rest of the world, even those who mistreat us.  We’ll read from Romans 12:14-21.

It seems right now that we are more divided than we have been in a long time.  It is as bad as I can remember.  Half of us seem to believe that the other half is truly evil and incapable of having a pure motivation for anything they support.  Violent and near violent confrontations are on the rise.

Please don’t misunderstand me.  There is evil and there is good.  There is truth and there are lies.  If we don’t actually believe that what we think is true, then we become liars ourselves to argue for it.  Where we go wrong, especially in matters where scripture is not explicit, is in ascribing evil motivations to those who disagree with us.  You may think that I am wrong, but i hope you will give me the grace to accept that I may be wrong for the right reasons.  Especially in the church, we should be expecting the best of each other.

The versus we’ll study this Sunday suggest a very different code of conduct than we’re seeing on ether side right now.  One may be more obnoxious and even more violent than the other, but both have forgotten these words.  I have definite convictions about who is right, but I have been guilty of saying or sharing things on social media that contribute to the problem instead of the solution.  If we believe we have the truth, do we really think we’ll convince anyone who disagrees with us by calling them evil and stupid?  It didn’t work in the schoolyard and it doesn’t work any better carried into adulthood.  Let us approach those who disagree with us, and yes even those who hate us, with humility, mercy, grace, compassion, peace, and love.

I hope to see you there.

Love y’all!

Larry

The Bartimaeus Blog 2018.8

Bartimaeus Baptist Temple Posted on by

Blessings to you, loved ones.  I hope and pray that you have chosen to have a great week!  Here’s what’s happening at BBT.

It was so good to have Priscilla and Kimi back with us on Sunday.  Keep praying for their complete recovery and comfort.  Lupe was also back, as was Ms. Fox.  Ms. Fox went home sick before the service started though, so keep her in your prayers.  Pray for Dede as we have not been able to get in touch with her.

Linda shared with us a video from a chapel service that meant a lot to her as a student at DTS.  I continued our study of Romans 12 with verses 3-8.  I’m going to pick up with verse 9 next week.  We’ll look at Romans 12:9-13.  Paul is still providing instruction for leading a transformed life.  He has addressed specific callings and how they should be pursued.  Now he’s giving instructions to everyone.  I hope you’ll come and join us as we explore God’s word together.

Love y’all!

Larry

Bring Back the Butter

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There is no podcast for Linda’s Sunday school lesson on Sunday because she shared a message from a chapel service at Dallas Theological Seminary that was helpful to her.

She says, “This Fall marks 15 years since I started my studies at DTS. I share this chapel with you  because of the many chapels I would hear over the following 4 years this is one I shall never forget.  I share it with you now in the hope that these timeless truths bring u a renewed sense of peace and purpose as we press forward together for His glory.”

Here is a link to the video.

The Bartimaeus Blog 2018.7

Bartimaeus Baptist Temple Posted on by

Good morning to you, loved ones.  I realize it won’t be morning by the time most of you see this.  I’m so late in posting it that the upcoming service I’m talking about may already have happened.  Nevertheless, here’s your weekly chronicle.

Last week we had some new visitors that Priscilla invited.  Unfortunately she didn’t get to come as she was still fighting illness.  We had another sharing time for Sunday School and I appreciate Pastor Evans joining in to offer his insight.

This week, Linda wants to share a message that blessed her the first time she heard it at DTS for Sunday School.  I will be picking up where we left off last week with Romans 12:3-8.

Have you ever asked a question of someone who really knows a subject well and been no wiser after receiving the answer?  Sometimes experts are speaking so far about our heads that they should have just saved their breath.  I wonder if people felt that way about Paul.  He spoke from such a depth of knowledge and faith that I can imagine many people thinking, “easy for you to say!”  Peter even makes reference to his letters being hard to understand in 2 Peter 3:16.

Last week we covered verses 1-2 where we are instructed to present our bodies as a “living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God,” and to “be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  I talked a little about what that means, using the next few verses as supporting material. This week we’ll look a little closer at them.  Paul didn’t present us with big impossible concepts and no instruction about how to apply them.  The next few chapters are full of practical advice regarding what to do and how to think that will help us in the transformation process.

I hope to see you there!  There’s no real substitute for spending time together, but if you can’t come, check us out on Facebook this afternoon.  Facebook doesn’t give us quite enough time to do the whole service, but we’ll go live for the sermon at roughly 3:30 and sometimes the Sunday school at around 2;45.  We’re doing it with my phone parked on a stand using cellular data for streaming.  It’s hardly a professional setup, but it usually works.

Love y’all!

Larry

The Bartimaeus Blog 2018.6

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Blessings to you, loved ones.  Read on for your weekly update.

Last Sunday was a little different with Priscilla being out sick, but I really enjoyed our time of sharing during the Sunday school session.  We even had visitors from the area and they also joined in.  I’m so thankful that everyone is willing to contribute something. I didn’t go live with that but there is a podcast episode for it.  The message is available on our Facebook page as well as in podcast form.

Do keep Priscilla and Kimi in your prayers.  Pray for Dede also to be able to find and keep a good living arrangement.

This Sunday I am going to speak to you about mind control.  I imagine that phrase invokes images of cult leaders or maybe as in my case any number of dystopian societies envisioned by authors wishing to make a statement of their own through the medium of fiction.  We speak of people being brainwashed.  We know that what we believe to be true affects how we think and act.

It is very important for us to understand that we are the ones who must be in control of our minds.  We can choose what and how to think.  Whatever we cultivate in our thinking is what we can expect to produce fruit in our lives, so what will we choose?  Will we choose truth or lies, good or evil, that which builds up, or that which tears down?  This is why Paul writes of being transformed by the renewing of our minds.  We’ll read from Romans 11:33-12:2.  We will focus our attention on 12:2, but a little context is necessary to show just how vital this concept is for us to understand.

I hope you’ll join us.  I see positive signs in the life of our church, but regardless of what I see, this is what I choose to believe.  God gave us this church.  He has a mission for us.  That mission has not changed.  He will bring to completion what He started.  I hope we all choose to think that way and pursue the life of the church accordingly.  See you Sunday!

Larry

The Bartimaeus Blog 2018.5

Bartimaeus Baptist Temple Posted on by

Blessings to you, loved ones.  Here’s what’s happening this week.

We had a great time Last Sunday in our fellowship,  Yeah, I’ll still use the “spiritual” word because I was raised in the church and that’s just how we talk.  For the rest of you out there, we had a nice meal together after the service.  I love these times together because as I shared with you in the message I believe those times are more like what the early church did when they had the “Lord’s Supper.”  Again, a big thanks to everyone who makes it happen!

Speaking of that message, I’m so disappointed that we didn’t capture it because some were not able to hear it.  I want it to inform how our church practices both the ceremony and our meals together in the future and I addressed a question that came up a few weeks ago.  Sadly I forgot to turn on the recorder and when I hit the control to start the Facebook live video it didn’t start and I didn’t realize it.  So no record was made at all.  I may adapt and post something here that I wrote a few years back so that you can understand where I am coming from if you want to know.

We’ll have that communion service this week as we have begun doing every other first Sunday.  That’s important to who we are and it isn’t changing.  We will deny it to no one, but it is offered to those for whom it has meaning, who have made Jesus Lord and wish to remember through this ceremony what He did for us.

This week’s message will come from the Proverbs again.  I don’t know how often we’ll come back here.  In fact I think the Lord is leading me in a different direction for the next few weeks, but as promised we’ll return from time to time for a little more wisdom from this amazing collection.

We’ll pick up with Proverbs 1:8-19.  The passage seems more fitting for a Sunday School class in a youth detention center than for a message to our congregation.  I almost put it aside for some other time when I was really desperate for something to say.  But there are truths to be drawn from it that can inform all of our conduct, so let’s look at it together.

I got a call from Priscilla this morning that she was not feeling well at all and probably would not make it to church tomorrow.  Continue to pray for her and her family as this is a trying time for all.  Pray for this church.  I hope you all know how important you are to its life.  It takes every one of us working by the leading of the Holy Spirit to keep it going.  There is much work yet to be done and we are short of workers.  As Jesus once said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.” (Matthew 9:37-38)

Love y’all!  See you tomorrow!

Larry