Bartimaeus Baptist Temple

Hello family and friends.  What a joy it was to celebrate the coming of Jesus with you on Sunday.  I hope we are all thinking about the things in life that are really import and asking God for those things this Christmas.  We also took time to commemorate the sacrifice that He came to make on our behalf with a communion ceremony.

As I was preparing for the communion service, practicing over and over the verses from Luke 22:19-20 that we traditionally read as we take the elements together, I reflected on that phrase, “do this in remembrance of me.”  What was Jesus saying?  I think it is much more than what we might read today in light of our traditions.  The context of this passage in which Jesus instituted what we call depending on our backgrounds The Lord’s Supper, communion, or the Eucharist, expresses the whole of who He is and what He came to do.

After all that rehearsal in preparation for being in a setting where I wouldn’t have a free hand to read a Braille page with, I still didn’t get it quite right.  I think I mixed in a different version or maybe even a different passage as I repeated those verses.  I was so worried about messing up that I messed up.  How often we do that in our walk with the Lord.  We try to remember everything we’re supposed to do and we try so hard to do it, yet in the process we miss the point.  It is the communion with Himself that Jesus wants from us.  It is the fellowship and sharing together that should mark our walk with Him.

In our modern society, we seem more than ever to be slaves to our calendars.  There have always been special days, but now with the help of our technology we can schedule our lives down to the minute.  I’ve never quite understood it.  We’ve turned a tool for marking time into a taskmaster that dictates when we rest, when we rejoice, and when we remember.  As the arbitrary New Year approaches, we typically take time to remember.  We evaluate the year past and make resolutions about what we want to do in the year to come.  That’s not a bad thing.  It is good to evaluate where we’ve been and where we want to go from time to time.  It is good to resolve to do those things we know we ought to do.  I would say that if you know there’s something you need to do, don’t wait on the calendar.  Make that resolution today!

But let us not forget that it is relationship that our Lord seeks.  When we learn the meaning of communion with Him and thereby with one another, we will find joy, life, peace, and love.  I hope you will join us this Sunday as we explore communion together.

I was so disappointed that we had to cancel our service with Harvest Oaks for the second time this month! There is a reason for these delays but I am still disappointed. When speaking to pastor Jay this week, they will set a date in January to come and have our service with them, hopefully there will be no more ice cancellations in the near future.  I hope every one was safe and warm, and you had power to your houses.  I was so grateful we never lost our power but there were many of you who did.  This week, the Lord willing, we will have our Christmas party at the church and Heights church will be with us as we celebrate the birth of Jesus.  The ladies that do our Christmas stockings will be with us as well. I hope you will be with us as we fellowship together.

As I was feeling down and disappointed about last week I read in Matthew where John the Baptist was even questioning how he had spent his life.  Christmas is the time of year we usually talk about being jolly but this time of year is hard for many people.  It is not hard to long back at some things in our past that we can say we really messed this up, or things really did not work out like we expected.  It is normal to feel this way. There are always things we have been disappointed about.  I want us to look at the scriptures in Matthew 12: 2-11 and see if we can get a true idea of what John the Baptist was feeling as he was in prison and about to be executed. There is a lesson we can learn from what message Jesus sent back to John.  I hope you will be with us as we start at our regular time of 2:30 pm.

On a sadder note this week Lisa Garcia’s mom Thelma passed away. Lisa and her family have been part of this church for many many years and we are praying for Lisa and her family as they go through this terrible loss.  I hope we can offer comfort and support to Lisa this Sunday.  Continue to pray for those loved ones that are struggling as we go into this Christmas season and I hope you will be thankful for all your many blessings.  I hope to see you in Church on Sunday and keep doing good things for the people you meet as we celebrate the fact that we have been so blessed.

We love you so much!
Pastor David & Pris

Hello BBT friends and family.  As I’m writing this, we would normally be at church and about to get started.  However, due to the potential for icy conditions, it was decided to play it safe and cancel today’s services.  I miss being with you and it looks so far like our concern was unnecessary, but we would rather everyone be safe.  I look forward to seeing you all next weekend as we celebrate with Tim and Cindy.  Harvest Oaks is still planning to do the service and dinner for us.  It has been rescheduled for December 8.

A few weeks ago, I was reading in the Bible and a word jumped out at me.  It’s a seemingly insignificant word.  It occurs so often in the Bible that many commentaries and word study resources ignore it. The word is, “behold.”  Look!  Pay attention!  Take note!  Sometimes it’s part of conversations between people and may not have any more significance than when we preface our sentences with something like “look” or “you see.”  But maybe we should look a little more closely when Biblical authors use it to highlight what they have written.  Maybe we should pay special attention when God says, “Pay attention!”  Walk with me through some key places in the scripture when God said, “behold!”  I can’t wait to see you on Sunday!

Hello loved ones!  What a wonderful month we are having!  With all the funerals we’ve had in the last few years, we get to have two weddings this month!  Breedlove and Jana will be married this evening.  Tim and Cindy will be married on the 30th.  What better time to have this happen than on the same month that we also celebrate Thanksgiving?  God is good!

Last week we heard more encouraging words from Priscilla and then Breedlove gave what I’m calling part 1 of his testimony.  I could probably say that about any of us, because God is always working in our lives.  I also think Pastor David’s message was particularly appropriate this month.  After all, married people better learn to forgive!

My health is improving.  I was pretty certain I knew what was happening or I would not have risked exposing anyone.  I turned out to be right.  It was a recurrence of the same thing that put me in the hospital back in February.  The good news is we got it in time and I am back to normal activity.  Thank you all for your prayers and concern.  Keep in mind the other prayer requests that were mentioned.  You can always refresh your memory from the web site.

This Sunday, I want to talk to you from the book of Galatians.  It’s not a long book, so I urge you to read it this week.  The truth is that we are all law breakers.  If God had a police force, we’d all be in danger of being arrested!  Not only that, but we’d be convicted and the penalty is death!  But instead of sending a Heavenly hit squad, God sent His son, Jesus, to take it for us.  The trouble is that we think we know better.  We seem to think that if we do everything right, we’ll make the cut.  Sometimes we’re so arrogant that we appoint ourselves God’s police force and try to make everyone else follow the law as we see it.  Paul has some very harsh words for that kind of attitude.  He also has some very encouraging words if we choose to walk with Jesus by His Holy Spirit.  Come and let’s explore them together.

We had a relaxing and restful weekend last week.  Thanks so much to all of you at BBT for allowing Pris and me to get away last week.  I really missed you but we all need some time to get away.  That being said I can’t wait to get back in church worshiping with by christian family.  It is nice to get away but there is nothing better than coming home, especially if you love being a part of something like BBT!

This week I want to talk to you about keeping your word.  There is nothing that shows a persons integrity more than  they keep their word.  We may not have a lot of money or have a high position in our society but our words should matter.  More important than money and fame is a good name. I want to discuss the promises we make. I believe it is very important that we keep our promises to each other and especially to God.  This week verses are in gospel of Matthew 5: 33-37.  Jesus is talking about taking an oath or as we say make a promise and how our yes should mean yes and our no means no. We say somethings just to receive the praise of men and we make promises to God just to receive a blessing or answered prayer.  We make promises  not realizing how people may be counting on you keeping your word.  We all have made promises we have not been able to keep, but it should break our hearts when we disappoint our fellow brother’s and sister by not keeping these promises.  When we break our promises to God we should be asking God for forgiveness. When we hurt other people we show them we can not be trusted to keep our word, when we break our promises to God we are in sin and need God’s mercy and grace to help us be better.  I am so proud of this group of people at BBT as you work very hard to keep your promises to each other and to God.  But we can do better.  Lets’ talk about it Sunday as we discuss about how important our words are.

I want to thank all of you for praying for Kim this week.  She is struggling but she did find out she has a blood clout in her arm. They chose not to do surgery at this point but they are still trying to decide what to do.  We pray they will find an answer and get this fixed.  On Wendsday my great granddaughter was born. She is healthy and her and her mom are doing great.  My grandson was able to be in the delivering room and saw what a miracle birth is.  I think he has a new idea about what is important in life.

On a very sad note Jerry Gibson, one of the trustees at BBT, was again diagnosed with cancer. He had the cancer removed several years ago but it has come back. The doctor did not give him much hope and the alternative to removing this cancer was not what Jerry wanted.  I am going to pray for Jerry every day the rest of this year and believe God can do things Doctors can not.  I am making this promise to him and it is a promise I will not break.  Please pray with me and lets believe in the healing power of God.

I will see you on Sunday and I hope you will bring someone with you.  Do good things and make sure you keep the promises you make.

We love you so much!

Pastor David and Pris