Bartimaeus Baptist Temple

It is with great excitement that I write to you today. We’ve had so many wonderful things happening in the church lately.  People have rededicated their lives to Jesus.  People have come to know him for the first time.  Jesus told us that the angels in Heaven rejoice at this (Luke 15.)  We rejoice in this too!  It was a delight to welcome Mary Terrell as the latest addition to our family last week.  I confess I don’t remember much else about what happened in that service, but I remember that!

I’m sorry not to have this out sooner.  I’ve been working long hours and haven’t even had time to draft a complete outline, but I want to share some very basic things with you this week since we have so many making a fresh start.  Even for those who have been around a while, a few reminders never hurt, and we should all know how to help others mature in the faith.

Whether you’re a brand new believer or making your way back, you might have some questions like, “What happened?  Did anything really change?  What do I have to do now?  Isn’t my life supposed to get better?”  Let’s answer those questions together this Sunday.

²¹ if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, ²² that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, ²³ and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴ and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. (Ephesians 4:21-24 NASB)

Isn’t it delightful when the Lord takes over?  That’s what it felt like last Sunday at our homecoming celebration.  I hope we all got the message.  Priscilla told us that it’s time to act with urgency on the things God has told us to do, but as Pastor Jay said, we start with prayer so that we know what it is we are supposed to be doing.  It is a pleasure to see old friends, and as always the barbeque was great!

This week, I want to share with you from James 3:1-12. I don’t want to be overly dramatic.  We’re so used to hearing exaggerated speech these days that I think most of us tune it out.  And in a world full of violence, to equate mere words with flying bullets seems like just more over-the-top hyperbole trying and failing by its very nature to make the point.  Yet if more of us took the same care with our words as we would with a loaded gun, much pain and suffering could be avoided.  We all bear the wounds.  Time can heal them, but they always leave scars.  As you can never put the bullet back into the gun once it has been fired, you can never recall a word once spoken.

I hope you’ll join us next Sunday as we worship and learn together.

I’m so excited by the things God is doing in our church.  It is such a joy to see new faces and some not so new that God has brought back to us.  We have a mission, and last Sunday Priscilla reminded us that we can’t sit in the pews and wait for it to happen.  We need to get to work!  Pastor David showed us how to stop worrying and trust in Jesus.  If you missed it, check out our podcast page or follow the links on the Media page.

This Sunday,we will get to hear testimonies from Doug and Clarke during the Sunday school time.  It’s always a delight to hear how God changes lives.  Then I will be looking at the next in the series of deliverers that God gave to Israel.  Every time they would fall back into sin, God would allow an enemy to overcome them.  But when they cried out to Him, he sent a deliverer.  That’s just what He does now, and that deliverer is Jesus.  All the others point to Him.

This time we’ll talk about Gideon.  You might remember that he is the one who defeated a huge army with just 300 men, but was extremely unsure of God’s message at the beginning.  He repeatedly asked God to confirm his assignment with signs, the most famous being that of the fleece.  Gideon hardly seems like the man for the job, hiding in a hole when God first calls him, but look at how the angel addresses him in Judges 6:12, “”The LORD is with you, O valiant warrior.”

Sometimes there’s a big difference between what we see and what God sees when he looks at us.  All we can see is the visible and the present.  God sees what will be.  Thus he looked at that man hiding from the enemy in a hole and saw a mighty man of valor.  God sees you as you will be, and He has a mission for you!  I hope you will be inspired by Gideon’s story to prepare your heart and be ready to accept it.

Come and join us!

We had a great day at church last Sunday at BBT.  Pris led us in a Sunday school lesson on how we need to be there for each other.  We do not want people to think we do not care and it takes more than just words to show people we really care about them.  We need to put our words into action and make an effort to make people feel like they matter.  God goes to great length to make us feel loved, what do we do to make people feel that they really matter?  I really felt like I need to do more, I think we all do.  Tim brought a message asking us are we crazy?  He explained if you are sold out to God the world will sure think you are.  The question was asked what are you doing? He was not talking about this in general he was asking what are you doing with your life? Are you making a difference in this world?  Are you making a difference in your on life?  This is a great question that needs a great answer.  I was so proud of Tim as he brought his first message here at BBT.  I will make sure he gets more chances!  Follow Tim’s lead here, If there is something that God is calling you to do don’t just sit back and see if it works out, step up and do what God is calling you to do.  I guarantee God has something special for you to do.

This week I want to kind of follow up with Tim’s message and talk about what is really important to you.  We live in a society that being a servant is not something we strive to be.  Why not?  Was not that exactly what Jesus did and preached while he was here?  Being a servant does not mean you are a doormat for the world.  It means you care more about other people than you care about yourself.  I was reading in John this week and I came across the story where Jesus was washing the feet of the disciples.  He was not just doing this because he wanted the show them how they are suppose to act, he did it because he LOVED them.  Jesus did not just die on the cross to fulfill the prophecy that had been written, he did it because he LOVES us.  Please read the story in John the 13Th chapter starting with vs 1 thru 17.  There is a great lesson here as well as a great expression of love between Jesus and his disciples.  I hope you will join us Sunday as we see what God wants us to see in this story.

Please pray for those mentioned in our prayer request this week and I want you to think about the challenge Pris gave us last Sunday.  She ask us to pray this week and let God put someone on your heart then reach out and call them, send them a card or letter, something to let them know you were thinking about the.  We all want to feel like we are needed and that someone really cares about us.  I want them to know that God cares about them but I also want them to know we care as well.  If you do this I promise you will have a praise report on Sunday saying what a great feeling it was to be part of God’s ministry.  We will see you on Sunday!!!

We love you so much,

Pastor David & Pris

I hope you were able to be with us last Sunday at BBT.  Linda brought a lesson on how Satan can get us so angry and upset that we lose our prospective.  She explained that we can say “Ain’t no way Satan” are you going to make me get angry and upset when problems come.  It is so easy to lose our temper, say things we don’t mean and even hear things other people are not even saying.  We must be in control of our emotions if we are going to show other people, there is something different about us.  Larry delivered a message about preparing our hearts to receive the seed from God. Not only do we need to have the good soil to receive the seed but we need to work it, prune it, water it, make it productive.  If you missed any of these lessons you can hear them on our website.

This week I wanted to follow up on what Linda was talking about last week. Not only do we need to keep from being angry, we need also not to be afraid.  We are all afraid of somethings but there are many people  that let fear rule their life.  They are afraid to die but they are afraid to live as well.  Know this, fear is a natural thing, like sin we are born with it.  Look how so many things scare children.  Fear does not have to rule your life, think about how many times in the Bible it says fear not.  Problem is we don’t know how to not be afraid.  It is hard to overcome.  This week I want to show you how Jesus can help us lose our fears. The scripture verses this week are in Matthew the 14 chapter starting in verse 22-33. This is a story of how fearless Peter was as he stepped out of the boat but how his fear overcame him and he began to sink.  Does this happen to you?  Do you get so frightened of your surroundings you take your eye s off the very one that can comfort you?  Don’t think you are alone here. We all need to be reminded that we have nothing to fear if we are child of the King.  Please join us Sunday as we celebrate another great Sunday at BBT.

Please continue to pray for those mentioned in our prayer request this week and remember to count your blessing every day.  God bless you and keep you till we meet again!

We love you so much,

Pastor David & Pris