The Bartimaeus Blog 2018.4

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Blessings to you, BBT family and friends.  Here’s what’s happening.

I had such a busy week at work, staying up all night Wednesday, that last Sunday seems like a very long time ago.  I had to look back at my last post to remember what i talked about.  I do remember Priscilla as always sharing from her heart about trusting God knowing that He will bring us through our trials to a greater purpose.  I know it is a very personal message for her at this time and reaches all of us too.  I spoke on the wisdom to be found in the Proverbs, and promised to return to it from time to time to share the wealth that is found there.

This week we will have our 5th Sunday Fellowship after the service.  Next week we’ll have what we call Communion or The Lord’s Supper.  I believe the two events are more closely linked than you might think.  I am going to take this opportunity to share with you why this is so.  The verses on the screen will be the ones we all know well from Luke 22:19-20, but we’ll be looking at several passages where this event is recounted or commented upon.  You may find it helpful to read them beforehand so that you will be able to follow more easily:  Luke 22:14-27, Matthew 26:20-29, John 13, ! Corinthians 11:18-34.

Pray for each other and pray for our church.  See you tomorrow!

Love y’all!

Larry

The Bartimaeus Blog 2018.3

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Blessings to you, loved ones.  Here’s your waterlogged weekly update!

We thank god for the rain, and I thank God for all of you!  Seeing you all at church brings me joy and hope for our future.  Last week, Linda sent along her Sunday school lesson about how we can do all things through Christ and how we should focus on what is good.  I share the importance of making the best of whatever god has entrusted to you.  But the best thing about last week was that you were there!  If you are reading this and you were not there, come this Sunday and make it even better!

I got a call this week from someone who would like to join us if we can get her there.  She found us on Facebook!  That is also encouraging as it means our name and what we do is becoming known beyond our small circle.  I just hope we can do it as we are stretch so thing now.  Pray for more workers!

If you saw our prayer request earlier in the week you know that Kimi needs your prayers right now.  I asked Priscilla about her yesterday and she said her leg is still pretty bad.  The pain was so severe that Pris took her to the emergency room and she has had to stay in bed since.

This Sunday, I want to talk to you about one of the most powerful books in the bible for helping us with day to day living.  It is the book of Proverbs.  I probably wouldn’t finish with it if I preached from it every Sunday for the next 50 years, but every so often I will come back and take us through a little more of it because it has so much to teach us.  To show you what I mean, we’ll read the introduction found in Proverbs 1:1-7.  I hope you’ll come away wiht a new appreciation for this amazing collection of wisdom and spend more time reading it for yourself and thinking about what it says.

The following Sunday will be our 5th Sunday fellowship, so check with Cathy about what we still need.  I believe there will be a sign-up sheet in the back Fourier.  This is your opportunity to bring someone new and be sure they have time to get acquainted.  I think I will be talking on that day about why these times are so important for us.

I love you and can’t wait to see you tomorrow!

Larry

The Bartimaeus Blog 2018.2

Bartimaeus Baptist Temple Posted on by

Blessings to you, friends and family of BBT.  Your weekly update has arrived.

Last Sunday was our 60th Homecoming celebration.  Thank you to everyone who helped make it a good one.  I was so glad that Linda was able to be with us.  It was a time to remember those who have gone before and thank God for what he has done in our church.  Pastor Jay Gibson of Harvest Oaks Church blessed us with a message appropriate to the event.  You can hear it on the podcast or watch it on our Facebook page.  And of course there was plenty of good food, so much so that we’ll go ahead and have our fifth Sunday fellowship this month to finish it off.

This Sunday, Linda has prepared an encouraging lesson for us.  She has been excited to bring it to you and I know you will be blessed.  I am going to speak from Luke 19:11-27.  This is a very similar story to the one in Matthew 25:14-30 that most of us are probably more familiar with, but there are some interesting differences.  I’ll talk about them and about what Jesus is saying through both of these parables.

Something else is in my heart as I sit here writing to you this afternoon.  We are a church that believes in prayer.  That is why we maintain the practice of always having a time of prayer requests before the service begins and why we share them on line so that our members can come back to them and others may add their prayers to ours.  We know that God answers our prayers, even if sometimes we don’t like the answer.  We know that we serve a loving and faithful God who has sustained us for all these years.

That is why I ask you now as you pray for each other to always pray for our church.  Pray that we will love each other so that the world will know that we are His.  Pray that we will fulfill the calling that He has given to us.  Pray that we will choose wisely the future course of our ministry.  Pray that we will be fruitful and multiply.  Pray that He will show you what your part is in His work here.  And finally, pray for your leadership, that we will know His voice and execute faithfully that which He has given us to do, knowing always that it cannot be done without Him.

I love you!

Larry

The Bartimaeus Blog 2018.1

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Blessings to you, loved ones.  Happy upcoming Homecoming!  As we conclude our 60th year, I want to honor Pastor David’s memory by continuing these updates the way he did them and finally recognizing that it is in fact a blog in the original sense of the term.  He always called it that,though in the web site’s original configuration it didn’t technically fit the description.  Now we do actually run the site from a blogging platform, so we’ll call it what it always has been.  The Bartimaeus Blog will continue to be what it has always been, a recap of what’s happened and what’s going to happen at BBT with a little something extra from time to time.

It was good to have some ore people over from Brentwood last Sunday.  I’m glad we still stop by there with the van even though John is the last of our regular members who is still there and he hasn’t been coming for a while.  Keep him in your prayers as he hasn’t been getting out of bed for some time.

Priscilla spoke a bit about the history and purpose of the church as she reminded us of our need for Jesus and I was disappointed that we didn’t capture it because she did a good job.  So I’ve asked her to do it again this Sunday as part of our Homecoming celebration.  I spoke on the importance of watching what we say when we are out in the world.  It’s something that God has been teaching me and I think we can all benefit from it.  I also told on myself a bit so if you missed it you can check out the podcast or the video on Facebook.

Don’t forget that this Sunday we meet at 10:00 instead of our regular time.  Jay Gibson of Harvest Oaks Church will bring the message and then we’ll have our traditional Homecoming lunch.  This will be a special celebration for us, though tinged with the sadness of having it without Pastor David here.  I hope you will come and make this an event that would put a smile on his face and honor God, whom he faithfully served.

Love y’all

Larry

Coming up for Sunday, September 2

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Blessings to you, friends and family of BBT.  Here’s what’s happening this week.

It’s September.  The kids are back in school, and hopefully we’ll soon see some cooler weather.  This is the time of hear when we usually have something exciting happening every month, so I hope to see you there.  We did have a good crowd last week.  Priscilla shared a song with us and taught that we should believe what God says about us.  I talked about forgiveness and why it is so important to our relationship with God and with each other.

I took the day off on Friday and one of my coworkers asked me what I was going to do with it.  I said that I’d be preparing a sermon and she asked if I’d be using them as illustrations.  I just smiled.  Actually, I’m going to use myself.  God is talking to me, and I’m going to share what He’s saying because I know it is something we can all benefit from.

I have long been aware that sometimes I am not as careful with my words as i should be.  I want to fit in, so I join in on the complaining.  I try to be funny and to throw a few of of my own jabs in the lighthearted sparring that often goes on between coworkers.  I know better, but in the moment I do it anyway.

God calls us to a higher standard.  We are His representatives.  Everything we do and say should be a reflection of His character.  Our mission, wherever we are, is to make disciples of all peoples.  When we engage in speech that tears down instead of building up, then we are working against Him instead of for Him.  That is really not a place I want to be.  To make lasting change in what we say, we must change what we think.  We aught always to be seeking the Lord’s wisdom to guide our interactions with those around us.  Our main text will be Colossians 4:5-6.

Come join us!  Love y’all!

Larry

 

Coming up for Sunday, August 26

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Blessings to you, loved ones.  Here’s your belated weekly update.

Last Sunday feels like a long time ago.  I can hardly remember what happened after a long work week.  Due to a big project I have been at the office spending long days.  I’m glad I don’t usually have to do that because not much else got done this week including the usual Wednesday or Thursday post to keep you all informed.

What I do remember is that we had most of our folks back and it always blesses my heart when you’re there.  Even Kelly made it back to us.  I really appreciated Linda’s Sunday school lesson and hope everyone got the message that God cares for you and also that you never know what a wise word at the right time may do.  Trust in God, give Him the glory, and you may have an impact far greater than you might imagine.

I wrapped up our exploration of some of Jesus’ healing miracles and the greater purposes behind them.  We examined how He responded to the challenge of the Pharisees after he had healed a man born blind.  Using the analogy of a shepherd and his sheep, he described Himself as the good shepherd, explaining in a familiar way who He is and what He came to do.

It was also our first live video on Facebook on our page.  I did one the week before but didn’t think to do it from our page instead of my personal profile.  We want you to come and join us, but if you can’t, we will try to keep this up and maybe expand to more of the service as we are able.  It’s not exactly a professional job, just my phone stuck on a goose-neck mount I happened to have and pointed at the front, but it allows us to extend our reach to anyone who can use Facebook.

Tomorrow I want to talk about forgiveness.  I know it probably hasn’t been all that long since we did that, but the subject is so critical to the understanding of the Christian life and our relationship to God that I want to go back to it again.  Forgiveness is not easy.  Sometimes it is really hard.  It seems unnatural to us.  Why should someone who has wronged us be allowed to get away with it?  I’ll tell you why.  Because we have been forgiven by God, and our debt is far greater than we could ever repay.  If we cannot learn to forgive, we have missed the heart of God.  We can’t relate to Him at all.  That is why Jesus makes this statement in Matthew 6:14-15, 14 “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.”  Please join us!

Keep praying for each other.  There is not one of us that isn’t going through something and we are meant to pray for and support each other.  I think we mentioned last week that Annette F was scheduled for heart surgery.  She had it on Thursday.  I have not had a chance to find out how it went.  Lisa was also supposed to find out what the next step in her treatment will be.  Keep praying for Tim’s recovery and for the Whitmores.

I love you all and look forward to seeing you tomorrow.

Larry

Coming up for Sunday, August 19

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Blessings to you, loved ones.  Read on for this week’s update.

It was a small crowd last Sunday, but that gave us an opportunity to share with each other more easily.  I appreciate each of you who contributed something to the discussion we had during the Sunday School session.  I hope you’ll always come ready to share something that God gave you in your prayer and study throughout the week.  If the opportunity arises, you’ll be ready.  If not, you’ll have something you can share outside the walls of our building.  We should always be ready for that.

Priscilla and Kimie were off getting some much needed down time.  Edith, Anita, and Dede were all not feeling well.  Keep them in your prayers.  We miss all of you when you’re not with us.  We are blessed by your presence.

Speaking of people who are missed, Teresa made an appearance!  She always brightens the room and we’re so glad she got to come.  I also noticed that Ms. Fox was waiting at the door before the service, taking seriously the idea that whoever arrives first should be ready to greet others who come in.  I’m just so delighted at how you are all picthing in to make this church all that it can be for the glory of God.

This Sunday, Linda has something special to share with you for Sunday  school.  I think you wil be blessed to hear what she has to say.  I am going to pick up where we left off last week, moving into the 10th chapter of John.  Jesus is still speaking after he has healed the man born blind and revealed to him Who it is who has don it.  This is His answer to the challenge of the Pharisees, “we are not blind too, are we?”  Jesus now uses a well understood metaphor from prophecy to declare again who He is.  He is the Good Shepherd.  We’ll focus on John 10:7-18.

Come join us!  We love you!

Larry

Coming up for Sunday, August 12

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Blessings to you, beloved BBT family and friends.  Read on for your weekly chronicle.

Last Sunday you elected to make me the pastor of this church.  I can’t express in words what that means to me.  I’m hesitant to even try, knowing why it became necessary for us to have a new pastor.  I can never replace Pastor David.  I am honored to follow in his footsteps and I pray regularly for the wisdom to lead the church into this new season.  I will need your help, and I’m so grateful to all of you who stepped right up to offer it when asked.

Priscilla has always been an integral part of what we do, giving selflessly above and beyond what might be expected of a pastor’s wife.  We were pleased to offer her an official position at the church, which she accepted.  I hope we’ll all find a moment to let her know how much we love her and appreciate her determination to keep serving after such a devastating loss.

During the Sunday school period, she engaged us in a conversation about why people might be resistant to the call to make Jesus Lord of their lives.  I spoke from John 9 of another of Jesus’ miracles done with a greater purpose in mind.  If you are wondering where the podcast episodes are, they are still trapped on my digital recorder, which I left at the church running.  I hope that the resultant file is not so large that I cannot edit it to extract the lessons.

This week I am going to continue from the same chapter with the rest of the story.  After Jesus healed the man who was blind, the people hauled the man up before the Jewish leadership.  Under hostile questioning, he again offers powerful testimony about what Jesus did for him.  But they still refuse to believe and throw him out of their synagogue.  When Jesus hears of this He finds the man and powerfully summarizes what this all means.  In the interest of time we’ll begin in verse 24 and read to the end of the chapter, but Jesus isn’t done speaking.  Next week we’ll cover more of what He has to say in Chapter 10.

Priscilla and Kimie will be out for a much deserved vacation this Sunday, but I think we have all the transportation that Priscilla provides worked out.  They’ll be missed, but we are happy to give them some time for themselves.  Keep praying for them and the rest of the family.  I’m not sure yet what the Sunday school session will look like, but I hope you’ll come ready to share something that God has shown you.  Bring your questions too. We can talk about the answers, or we can resolve to look into them together at a later date.

I love you.  Keep on loving each other.  See you Sunday!

Larry

Coming up for Sunday, August 5

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Blessings to you, loved ones.  Here’s your weekly update.

I can’t tell you how much joy you all brought me last Sunday during our 5th Sunday fellowship.  I’ve been talking about how we need to function as a church and that everyone has something to do, but when Cathy and I started talking about the practicalities, I wasn’t sure we were ready to embrace the idea so fully.  I was so wrong, and I am so blessed.  If Pastor David were permitted to speak to us now, I think He’d express the same kind of delight in the way you all responded to the call.  Thanks to everyone who brought food as well.

It was good to see Tim back again and doing better.  I think I understood that he transferred out of his chair into the pew.  He’ll be testifying before we know it.  Debra had a family event so she didn’t join us, but she came to the meeting of the Dallas Christian Fellowship of the Blind that meets the 4th Saturday of most months in our building.  She is doing much better.

We have a number of prayer needs that are posted each week on the Praise and Prayer Requests page.  If you find yourself at a loss for something to pray about, there’s always plenty of material there.  I think part of the reason we do this is that it draws our hearts closer to His.  As we spend time in prayer, we develop the same kind of compassion He has for those we pray for.  Cathy sent us another one yesterday and I regret not getting it posted as it was time sensitive.  In time we’ll come up with a more efficient means of getting things like that out.  We will still pass it along person to person but it would be nice to get it online when appropriate so that as many as possible can be praying.

Her request read, “Please add Maddie to your prayer list today.  She is a 3 yr old with downs syndrome who is going through heart surgery today.  Her older brother & his wife live next door to our daughter in Mabank.”

The event has passed, but this family can still use your prayers.

For the last couple of weeks, I’ve been sharing with you about how Jesus often had a higher purpose for the miracles He performed.  In the account of the man who was paralyzed who was brought to Him through the roof, we saw Him prove his power to forgive through the healing.  Then we considered the healing of the man lying at the pool of Bethesda.  Here Jesus offers a sick man a level of respect he probably didn’t get anywhere else by first asking Him if he wanted to get well.  This was also a probing into the man’s heart.  But Jesus was up to something much more.  He was setting the stage for His ultimate act of sacrifice, through which the entire world can be healed from the greater sickness caused by sin.  But we must want to get well.  He will not impose it on us.

This time we’ll go a few chapter’s further and start with John 9:1-12.  This story takes the entire chapter, but we don’t have time to explore all of it at once.  Now we see something that hasn’t been pointed out in the other two cases, though it would be equally valid.  When Jesus and His disciples come upon a blind man as they travel, the disciples tactlessly ask Jesus, “who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?”  Jesus’ response in part is this, “so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

Now we see how it may be that suffering plays a part in God’s plan.  We’re not given this man’s age,  but we know that he is grown and has been blind from birth.  As with most people in his day with disabilities, he has few options and makes his living by begging.  His own people look down on him as evidenced by the question the disciples asked.  His life has not been easy, but it was all for a higher purpose.  Now he will glorify God in a way few people would ever have opportunity.  He displays the work of God, that the blind may see.  This story used to make me angry.  Now it brings me comfort and joy.  I am excited to share it with you!

I love you, and I want to see you on Sunday!

Larry

Coming up for Sunday, July 29

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

Last week was our first attempt at a little something new for Sunday school.  I’m grateful to Priscilla for being willing to give it a try.  We may not do the same thing every time.  Priscilla may sometimes have something that she wants to share in a lesson and I know Linda enjoys getting to teach when she can.  But I wont you to come to church expecting to give as well as receive.

Since we have so little time together and it’s hard to get everyone in for more activity during the week, we want to make the best use of the time we have.  I want you to have an opportunity to share something that God has shown you throughout the week.  Maybe it is something He brought to your attention during prayer time or while reading your Bible.  Maybe it is a testimony of something He did for or through you.  Maybe you have a question that someone else in the church can help answer.  It may be a little rough until we hit our stride, but I hope you’ll stick with us and come ready to share.

We had quite a few folks missing.  We missed having Edith with us as she was making preparations to be out of her house for the repairs she needs done.  Pray also for Mrs. Fox.  Priscilla said she didn’t come because she was sick.  I called her earlier today but got her voicemail.  I haven’t been in touch with Debra lately but she needs our prayers for her health challenges.  Always remember Tim and the rest of the family.  Keep Lisa especially in your prayers as she goes through the radiation treatments.

Last week I talked to you from the Gospel of Luke how Jesus looks beyond the seemingly obvious to the real needs that we have.  When the paralyzed man was let down through the roof in front of Him, he did heal the man, but first he forgave his sin.  Jesus knew that the biggest problem that man had is the same problem we all have.  We need Him to take away our sin.

Next time we’ll look at another healing.  This one is found in John 5:2-17.  Again Jesus does something surprising.  We might even think it was a little insensitive.  He walks up to a man lying on a mat who had been sick for 38 years and says, “Do you want to get well?”  This man is lying near a pool where people come in hopes of getting healed.  Could the answer be more obvious?  Apparently not, because Jesus asked the question.  Again He is doing something much more profound here than a simple (for Him) healing.  He is setting the stage for this man’s salvation, as well as that of all who believe in Him.  I hope you’ll come and marvel with me at the masterful way Jesus does what He does.

We will not have Sunday school this week so that we will have enough time for the 5-th Sunday fellowship.  We’ll also attend to a little church business as we begin our meal.  Don’t miss out!  I’ve shared with you before that when we have these meals together we are doing something more like what the early church did.  When Paul gives his warnings in 1 Cor. 11, he was talking about a full blown meal, not the little ceremony we call communion or the Lord’s Supper today.  So when we come together this way, let us keep his words in mind and treat each other accordingly.  If you would like to contribute something, contact Cathy to see what we still need.

Be blessed to be a blessing, and I’ll see you on Sunday!

Larry