Sunday October 6, 2013 “What would it take?”

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I want to thank you for all of your prayers for my family last Sunday. Kim was taken to the hospital with the doctors saying she had a stoke. Because of your prayers and God’s grace there was no indication of any brain damage and no signs of a stroke.  She is still in pain by they are doing another MRI to see if she has a ruptured disc.  It is serious but not as bad as we thought.  They did find a “shadow” on her brain but they believe it is just a cest that she has had from birth.  She was able to go to the Fair with us on Wendsday.  We had a good group go with us to Fair but the parking is ridicules.  I am hoping we will do a better job next year.  I want to thank Larry and Linda and Don and Brenda for taking over last week, I know they did a great job.

This week I want to talk about some scripture I read this week, it is found in Phillipines 3 vs 7 – 11.  This is Paul writing to the church from prison.  He had every reason to be depressed and scared for his life but his words were to encourage and full of hope.  It made me look at my priorties in life.  I asked myself what would I be willing to give up for Christ.  Have I sold out to be a follower of Christ.  While praying for Kim this week I found myself promsing God if he would save my daughter I will rededicate myself to him.  Sometimes it takes a Life changing moment, Like Paul’s Damascus road experience, to get our priorties in order.  How about you, where is your heart? What is important to you?  This Sunday we are going to ask some questions that we need to answer for ourselves.  I hope you will be in church this week and let’s see what we can do to be more Christlike.

Please continue to pray for those that are sick and need our help, I saw first hand God’s mercy this week and it was because you loved us enough to pray for us.  I am so thankful for all yours prayers but let’s not stop now.  Jesus says we are to even pray for enemies.  That is hard but if we are sold out to Christ we will do it because Christ lives in us.  I am looking forward to see you on Sunday!

We love you so much
Pastor David and Pris

 

Message for September 29 – Disabling Fear

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Hello loved ones.  I pray this finds you well and experiencing the Joy of the Lord.  We’ve entered a busy time here at Bartimaeus Baptist Temple.  We had our Homecoming this month and we have good stuff happening each month for the rest of the year.  It’s a great time to invite new folks to join us.

We’ve had our hard times too.  Last week we celebrated the life of Mary Taylor, one of the charter members of our church who went home to Jesus last week.  Earlier today we sent out a prayer request for Kim who was rushed to the hospital.  I don’t have much detail on that but she’s going to be alright.  Keep praying for her health.

This week Linda and I would like to offer a bit of encouragement.  She’s going to do a Sunday School lesson on courage and I’m going to speak about how we can start to overcome our fears.  Many of us are facing physical disability, but fear can disable us more completely than most anything that might happen to us.  I want to give you a little practical advice and share with you a powerful weapon against fear that you may not have thought of before.  Want a hint?  Read 1 John 4:18.  I look forward to seeing you there!

 

Sunday September 22, 2013 “A remembrance of Mary.”

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This week we lost the last original member of Bartimaeus Baptist Temple.  Mary Taylor passed away Monday evening at Brentwood Nursing Home. Mary had really felt bad over the last 2 weeks.  She was able to attend our homecoming on the 8Th but she was not feeling too well then.  I will miss Mary because she has been a part of my life for over 50 years. She was so sweet and loving as well as kind.  Over the last year or so Mary did not enjoy her life and she was certainly ready to go home, but her leaving leaves a void in my life.  I know my Mom and Dad were so happy to see her and I am glad she is free from the pain she was in.  I know one day I will get to see her again but she will be a new Mary, no pain, she will not have to struggle to make me understand her, she will be the Mary got created her to be.  We will miss you Mary but we will see you again.

There will be a funeral for Mary on Saturday at 1 PM at Sparkman-Hillcrest funeral home and the burial will be at 3pm at Grove Hill cemetery.  If something changes I will try to let people know.

This Sunday we will have a memorial service for Mary during our worship service.  There will be no Sunday school just some songs and a chance for us to remember Mary and talk about what she meant to us.  I know her Son Kenneth will be in town and I hope there will be some other visitors that show up to pay their respects to a great lady and a really great friend.  We will she you on Sunday at 2:30 for “A remembrance of Mary.”

We love you,
Pastor David and Pris

 

Message for September 15 – True Love is Tough

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Hello loved ones.  I hope you know that you are.  God loves you and so do we.  It was great to see everyone for our homecoming celebration last Sunday!  It was a special time.  Some have moved on to other things and some just haven’t been around in a while.  To the old friends we pray God’s blessing on you and thank you for coming back to see us.  The rest of you, get back here!  We love you and want to see more of you.

Priscilla taught the Sunday School and urged us to overcome sin in our lives by the grace of God.  Pastor Jay gave us a thorough lesson on humility from Philippians, chapter two.  We wrapped up the day with fun and good food.  I’m already looking forward to doing it again next year and reporting on all the good things God shows us in the year ahead.

It seems the third Sunday really came up fast this month.  It’s been a busy week at work and we have commitments to keep, but God gave me this message a couple of weeks ago.  Nothing takes Him by surprise.  Our society teaches us to tolerate just about anything.  Not only are we to tolerate it, but we are to embrace it.  This attitude has crept into our churches.  In the genuine desire to show love and acceptance to all, we look the other way in the presence of sinful behavior.

Is that what Jesus meant by not judging?  What do we think of parents who do that with their children?  What kind of children do they usually turn out to be?  We are supposed to love the sinner.  We were all sinners saved by His blood and we still fight the battles.  Church should be a place where the sinner is welcome, but it should never be a place where sin is condoned.  That is going to make sinners uncomfortable at times.  They may respond by repenting or they may run away.  We must not be afraid to speak the truth.

When we look the other way in the presence of sin, we are not acting in love.  It’s possible for our hearts to be in the right place, but our actions are out of step with our motivation.  If you saw a child about to go into traffic, would you turn away because you don’t want to judge him for his choices?  Sometimes our motives are not so pure.  We don’t want to get involved.  We don’t want to make trouble or put ourselves at risk.  We’d never admit it, but our actions suggest we’d rather the child get run over than risk getting run over ourselves.  We can’t claim to be a loving church unless we’re willing to do the tough things that love sometimes requires.

11 Deliver those who are being taken away to death,
And those who are staggering to slaughter, Oh hold them back.
12 If you say, “See, we did not know this,”
Does He not consider it who weighs the hearts?
And does He not know it who keeps your soul?
And will He not render to man according to his work? (Prov 24:11-12 NASB)

I look forward to seeing you all this Sunday.  Linda will have the Sunday School lesson and we’ll enjoy the word and fellowship together.  Be loved, be blessed, and be a blessing.

 

Sunday September 8, 2013 “Homecoming 2013”

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The time for us to celebrate our Homecoming has arrived.  Once a year we celebrate by meeting on a Sunday morning, we look back at where we have come from and look ahead at where we are going.  We invite some friends we have not seen for a while and have a great time praising God and thanking him for all his many blessings.  We have a great fellowship over lunch and we just have a great day.  I hope you will join us on Sunday and invite somebody to join you.  Jay Gibson will be with us to bring his message and Priscilla will bring a Sunday School lesson.  We will start right at 10:00 am so make your plans to be here early.

We will be celebrating 55 years of being in this ministry.  A lot of things have changed over the last 55 years and a lot of people are no longer with us, but our goal our mission is still the same.  We want to reach out to people with disabilities, people who have problems and people who need help. We not turn people away because they are broken or feel useless; we want them to see themselves as God sees them, a CHILD OF THE KING!  I see great things in our future and I believe God has his hand and his heart in this ministry.  I can’t wait to see what he has for us in the future.  We are looking forward to seeing you in church with us this Sunday MORNING!

We love you so much!!!
Pastor David & Pris

 

Sunday September 1, 2013 “This is who we are”

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I hope you are having a great week and I hope you feel blessed, because you are.  Remember you are a Child of the King that is what God says you are.  Last Sunday was another great day in church at BBT and we had another good group in church.  I am so looking forward to this week and then the following week we will celebrate our homecoming for the 55Th time.  My how time flies.  On homecoming Sunday Jay Gibson will bring the message and Pris will lead the Sunday School time.  After the service we will have dinner in the dinning room. Remember the service on Homecoming will start at 10:00 a.m. not 2:30 p.m.   I hope you are making plans to be in church this week and I hope you can share how you have been blessed this week.

This week I was thinking back on who we are, and what do we stand for.  We are a very special church started by a very special couple.  My Dads reason for starting this church was to minister to people who are hurting, physically and spiritually.  His inspiration for this ministry comes from the versus in Luke this week.  These versus define who we are and why we do what we do. It is found in Luke 14: 12-14.  Jesus had gone to the house of a Religious Leader of the Synagogue to eat.  While there Jesus sees a man suffering from a disease where water is retained in body causing limbs to swell. Jesus heals this man and then questions the host if he should have healed him on the Sabbath. Sound familiar? Jesus then tells them a parable of going to a wedding and not sitting in an honored place. Jesus was making a point “ For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”  Jesus then explains who we are to be ministering to.  This is why we are here and why we have been here for 55 years.  This is who we are.  Please read these versus and you will understand our mission at BBT.

I hope you will be able to join us Sunday at our preview look of our homecoming on September 8Th.  I am excited about the future of BBT and I am excited to be a part of it.
Keep praying for those that need our help, pray for your needs and give God the glory for all he has done. Love somebody back to life this week.  See you Sunday!!!

We love you so much
Pastor David and Pris

 

Sunday August 25, 2013 “The Weight of the World”

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Last week we had a great day in Church at BBT.  Linda brought a great lesson about how we need to have a change of heart.  Larry brought a strong message on the powers we have, and the authority we have over Satin.  I heard some things that I knew but I was not using the power God entrusted to me.  I hope you left there on Sunday ready to stand firm against the devil and all his demons.  It is a constant battle but it is a battle we can and should win EVERY time.  We had a good group again on Sunday and hopefully will be even more this week. It looks like Joel will be out of town this week so hopefully we will hear from them next month.

This week I am going to talk about how we can deal with our disabilities.  We are all suffering from something at some time or other, but this week I want us to look at a disability every one of us deals with.  It is the weight of life, the weight of sin and failure.  It is something we all carry and I promise you it weighs you down.  Life weighs us down.  In the scripture verse this week Jesus is going to heal a Woman that had been bent over for over 18 years.  The scripture versus are found in Luke the 13Th chapter verses 10-17.  This story shows a loving and caring Jesus, a woman who needed help and a leader of the synagogue that could care less about the woman.  I want to see how this applies to us.  Do you want to have Jesus touch you and lift the burden off your shoulders?  He is calling each and every one of us to come to him and he will in no way turn us away.  It is not about the rules it is about a loving and caring Christ that wants you to rise up stand up and walk.  I hope you will be with us in the service on Sunday and as always I want you to invite someone to come with you.

Please remember the prayer request that were mentioned last week and I hope you can share a praise report this week on what God has done for you, maybe you could tell us what you have done for God!!!  We love this ministry and we love the people in this ministry.  Keep doing good things in the name of Jesus and we will see you Sunday.

We love you so much,

Pastor David and Pris

 

Message for August 18 – Know Your Enemy

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Hello again loved ones. I’m so delighted to get to share with you again this Sunday.  We had a wonderful service this week praying for each other during the Sunday School time and Pastor David delivered an inspired message.  I hope we will all take it to heart and be ready!

Priscilla talked a little bit about demons and I thought it might raise some questions.  I want to share a little with you about the subject of Satan, demons, and spiritual warfare.  I don’t really like to talk about that much because I don’t want to give Satan any glory. The first thing we all need to know about Satan is that he is already defeated.  As a child of God, you should not fear him.  Having said that, failure to acknowledge that we have an active enemy who wants to destroy us is foolishness.

Much has been written and speculated about Satan and his demons with scant scriptural support.  We won’t spend much time on the speculation.  What I do hope we will learn is something of what the scripture clearly shows us and what we should do with that knowledge.

11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:11-12 NASB)

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Sunday August 11th, 2013 “Are you Ready”

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Last Sunday we had another great day at BBT. God has been so good to us and we are truly blessed.  Now it is up to pass these blessings along to others. We had a good group in church and there were several we were able to pray for.  I love it when we get to pray and share with other people.  All of us need prayers and encouragement from time to time and I can’t think of a better place to receive it then in God’s house.

I want to follow up last week’s sermon about all the STUFF we have in our homes and in our lives with a message Jesus spoke to the disciples shortly after Jesus warned us to not have our sights on earthly things but on the blessings that come from God. In this same chapter 12 of Luke Jesus begins to tell the disciples not to worry about things, because God will provide then in Luke the 12Th chapter in vs 32-48 Jesus tells us we need to be productive, passionate, and prepared people. People who are watching and preparing for the master’s coming arrival.  There are so many lessons in these versus but I want to look at especially what we need to be doing while we wait.  The amount of Joy you will experience in your life is determined by how much of yourself you are willing to give away.  If your life is all about you and what you have, your joy will be gone when your things are gone.  If your joy comes from God, nothing can separate you from that joy not even death.  I hope you will be in church this Sunday and see what God has for us, his special children.

We did have great news this week, Kingston the baby we have been praying for the last few weeks, the cancer is in remission and he is going to be getting better and better.  He will still be taking radiation but the future looks so much brighter for him now.  God heard our prayers and he has answered our prayers.  I hope you can stay out of the heat and I hope you are making plans to be in church on Sunday.  Have a great day and be blessed because this is the day that the Lord has made, rejoice and be glad in it!!! We will see you Sunday.

We love you
Pastor David and Pris

 

Sunday August 4th 2013 “Too much Stuff”

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It was really good to be back in church last week, I had really missed it.  I love it when God speaks to me and he always speaks to me when I am in church.  Priss’s lesson spoke to me about not giving up on God.  So many times we just throw our hands up in the air and just give up. Sometimes that can be a good thing if we realize we can’t do it on our own and turn it over to God, the problem is many times when we give up on ourselves we give up on God as well.  Never forget that God is so much bigger then we are and he will not give up on us even if we give up on him.  If you remember that God’s Grace is enough for whatever trial you are going through, you can get through it and receive a blessing along the way.  God is sooooo good.

This week I want to talk about the stuff we have in our lives. It is amazing as I drive around town on Saturday and Sundays how many garage sells I see.  It looks like a department store threw up on to our front yard.  I know one house that is located near me; they have a garage sale EVERY weekend during the summer.  How did we accumulate all this stuff?  The truth is the more stuff we have the happier we think we will be.  That brings me to the text for this week.  It is a story Jesus told as a heckler was calling out to him as he was teaching. The man said: Tell my brother to split his inheritance with me.  It is then Jesus tells the story of the rich fool.  The scripture is found in Luke the 12Th chapter vs 13-21.  This is a man who all he cares about is himself and his money.  How many people are like this today?  We need to listen as Jesus deals with this problem in the most harsh way.  What was it that this man did wrong? And what is God showing us today as we live our lives full of stuff?  I hope you will be in church on Sunday to go over this because it is something we all need to understand.

I hope you are praying for this ministry and where we are headed.  God has a plan to use you to do something wonderful in his service and I hope you are available to be used by him.  Keep praying for those that have been out over the last few weeks and make a point to pray with someone every day.  God hears the cry’s of his people and he will always answer our prayers, just not always as we expect him to.  Expect the unexpected and Trust God, you will not be disappointed. We love you and can’t wait to see you on Sunday!

We Love you, but God loves you more
Pastor David and Pris