Sunday February 12, 2012 ” Following our questions”

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It was really good to be in the house of the Lord on Sunday.  It was a welcome change from a hectic week.  It was nice to be around people who love and care about one another.  We began our class on Discipleship and we were able to watch a very moving video on our NEW projector and screen.  Linda has ordered the workbooks for the class and hopes to have them in this week.  We will be learning about discipleship over the next few weeks

This week I am going preach on some of the questions that were raised in being a disciple. The scripture verses this week are in the Gospel of John the 20Th chapter starting in verse 24 through 31.  This is the story of Thomas, a disciple, making statements and asking questions that we need to look at.  Can we question God?  Why do things happen like they do?  Is there a reason for the problems and suffering we are going through?  I hope you will be in Church this week as we follow our questions and see where they lead us.

Please remember to pray for those mentioned in the prayer request last week.  You can find them listed in the “Prayer room” on our web site.  All of us are going to need the prayers of our brothers and sisters in Christ at one time or another.  Aren’t you glad to know that when you need prayer there is a group of people who are lifting you up in prayer and care enough about you that they will be for you in your time of need.  The reason we come together in church on Sunday is to charge our battery and lift our spirits.  You cannot get this jolt of inspiration if you just go to church to due your duty to God.  You have to want to be there and receive God’s word and be ready to share yourself with your neighbor.  Please join us on Sunday and lets keep doing good things in Jesus name.  We love you and can’t wait to see you Sunday!!

Pastor David& Pris

 

Sunday February 5, 2012 “The adventures of discipleship ” Part 2

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Greeting to all BBT followers.  It was a traumatic weekend for our family last weekend.  We received a call our youngest daughter was being rushed to the hospital as she had taken several sleeping pills.  This was not something we ever dreamed of.  How did this happen?  What did we do wrong? What made Kim feel like she would be better off dead?  These were all questions I asked as I rushed to Medical City.  My wife was in Tyler taking care of her Mom and Dad when she got the news so she had a two-hour drive to ask these same questions.  The truth is we never realized Kim was as depressed as she was.  I think God she is now O.K. and hopes to be back home on Thursday.  It showed me no one is immune to tragedy and just when you think things in your life are coming together, Satan raises his ugly head to destroy you and your love ones.  Thank God our God is greater than anything Satan can do.  Thinks so much for all your prayers on Sunday and through this week.  I will never forget how this group of believers came together to pray for my little girl.  You are so precious to my family.

The sermon this week is the same sermon I intended to do last week.  The scripture is in gospel of Mark 1: 14-20.  It is entitled “the adventure of discipleship.”  Linda is going to begin her lessons on discipleship this week and I believe we need to understand how important it is for us as Christians to know how to be a good disciple.

Thanks again for all you did for our family this week and continue to lift Kim up in your prayers because she will be in counseling over the next few months so she can learn to feel better about herself.  Cindy has been sick over the last week and she is close to developing pneumonia.  She needs our prayers.  Continue to pray for Chuck and Sarah and please pray for the early church.  We have overcome some hurt feelings and I hope we will develop the love and respect for one another.  We will see you on Sunday and keep being a good disciple by doing good things in God’s name.

Pastor David & Pris

 

Sunday January 29, 2012 ” The adventures of discipleship”

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What a great day it was Sunday at BBT.  Joel and Dana and his group led us in Praise and worship.  It had been a couple of months since we had seen them and it was really a blessing to be with them again.  Joel and Dana presented the church with a new projector after the service.   These two amaze me every time I get around them; they are so loving and giving and so ready to do God’s work.  It is truly a blessing just to be around them.

We also celebrated Cheyenne’s 3rd birthday.  She is getting so big and she is really such a sweet little girl.  I hope I am around to see her grow into the young lady God created her to be.

I also was lucky enough to get to see my great grandchild who was born last Wednesday.  My grandson is so excited about being a new dad and we got to bless the baby in the hospital on his birth day.  Our pray is that this will help these two very young parents realize the
blessings and responsibility that lies ahead for them.  They are in our prayers.

This week is the last Sunday in January and I am going to bring a message on “ The adventures of Discipleship”.  The scripture verse is Mark 1: 14-20.  This is the short story of the first disciples called by Jesus.  It does not tell the whole story just the beginning.  It shows us what Jesus expects us to do when he calls us.  There is a lot to look at this week so I hope you will be in Church on Sunday ready to answer the call to be a disciple.

Please keep spreading the word of what God is doing at BBT and invite you relatives, neighbors and friends to visit with us on Sunday afternoon.  Please pray for those listed in our prayer request last week and continue to pray for Lee Cagle and her family as they are trying to move on after the passing of Chuck.  Pray for one another and in your prayer time take out to just tell God how grateful you are for his mercy and grace.  We will see you on Sunday and spend another great Sunday at BBT.

Pastor David & Pris

 

Sunday January 22, 2012

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Welcome followers of BBT.  I hope you are having a blessed week.  We enjoyed services on Sunday as Linda brought her introduction to a new class on Discipleship and Larry brought a message about “You deserve it” or do you?  I really enjoyed the service and it was good to see Ruth sister again and Larry and his brother’s family as well.  We had to say goodbye this last week to a good good friend Chuck Cagel .  I hope to be able to have a memorial service on Sunday the 29Th if his wife Lee wants to have another service.  We will miss Chuck and all he does for BBT.

This week Joel and Dana will be back after missing for 2 months and we are so excited to see them again.  There are some great things going on in their ministry and we are looking forward to hear about them.  Joel will lead us in Praise and Worship this week.
Please don’t miss the chance to be there and receive what God has for you this Sunday.

Please keep praying for our ministry and the members who make up this group of believers.  We are very fortunate to have been blessed by God and we need to remember what Larry spoke to us about last week, we do not deserve what we receive but because our God Love us so much and is so merciful we receive what we could never deserve. We are a child of the King of Kings and we need to be grateful for every blessing we have because they are all gifts from God.  Please plan on being in our service this week we start at 2:30 pm and it can be a life changing moment.  We love you and can’t wait to see you on Sunday.  Do good things to the people you come across because that is exactly what God wants you to do.  We will see you Sunday.

Pastor David & Pris

 

Message for January 15 – You Deserve It!

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We’ve all heard it.  We’ve probably all said it of ourselves.  Advertisements are full of it, and we’re all too ready to believe it.  Is it true?  Whatever “it” is, do we really deserve it?

When we speak of ourselves or someone else deserving something, we’re relying on our concept of justice to make that determination.  Whether the desert is good or bad, we did something for which it is a just consequence.  We may use the concept more generally regarding someone’s overall character, but character is revealed in action.

I cannot at this moment recall any time I have heard the phrase “I/You deserve it” spoken truthfully.  The speaker may have believed it, but that didn’t make it true.  We usually have an inflated view of ourselves and what we deserve.  God tells us what we deserve through the Bible (Rom 6:23) and there’s nothing good about it.  We deserve death.  Every breath we take is an act of His mercy.  Every good thing we have comes from Him (James 1:17.)  When we start thinking this way our whole attitude changes.  Demands are replaced with expressions of gratitude.  Pride is overcome by humility.  There is no room for jealousy.  We will find ourselves glorifying Yahweh, creator and Lord of all that is and the only one who truly does deserve it.

We can be thankful that we don’t get what we deserve.  Instead a merciful and loving God made a way for us to get the exact opposite of what we deserve.  It is His gift to us that we never could earn.  What happens if we let that reality shape the way we live?  Let’s find out!

 

Sunday January 8th 2012

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It will be great to be part of BBT in 2012.  I have missed services over the last 2 weeks but I hope you had a great Christmas and a Happy New Year’s Day.  As we start a new year at BBT we have a lot of great memories to look back on in 2011.  We have also shared some tragic moments together as well.  That is the way life is. There will be times of Joy and times of sadness; there will be moments of hill top experiences and moments of valley dwelling.  It is the time we spend in the valley that will tell us how strong is our faith.  We will learn more from our trials then we will from our victories.  We need our victories and we realize they are not really our victories but God’s, but we need them. We need to see our prayers answered and we need to see God working in our lives but the truth of the matter is God is ALWAYS working in our lives. As we have talked about so much in 2011 God is closer to us in out troubles then any other time.  We need God always and we especially need him in our most darkest time.  My desire for 2012 is to be closer to God then in 2011.  That means I will need to be prepared to see God working in my life when people around me may see the absence of God. I pray that I will learn from what God has for me and we as a church will be closer to each other and closer to God then we have ever been in our lives.

I am excited about getting back in the pulpit this next week and I want to share some more of what I believe God has for us in 2012.  I want to talk about the “defining moments” in our lives.  The scripture this week comes from Luke the 2ND chapter starting with vs. 25 through vs. 32.  This is the story of a man named Simon that sees baby Jesus for the first time. He has spent his life looking for the Messiah and God had promised him he would see him before he died. What has God promised us?

There are many new resolutions we can make for this new year but only the ones we keep will benefit us.  Lets not make empty promises that we can’t keep but lets also commit ourselves to the things that mean something to us.  I want you to share this Sunday some resolutions that mean something to you.  Remember when you say it out loud in front of others you are making your intentions known.  Be brave,  be bold,  be accountable.

This week we will also start a chance to share how we feel about somebody in the church.  If you would like to share this week call me and let me know.  Keep praying for each other, think good thoughts about your fellow Christians and do good things for the people you meet.  You can make a difference and never know it.  We love you and can’t wait to see you on Sunday.

Pastor David & Pris

 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

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What a great way to end the year of 2011 at BBT.  We had another good crowd and we had a great time of  fellowship and sing along with the “Senior Moments.”  The group from Heights Baptist Church really went out of their way to make a great Christmas for those of us at BBT.  They are a great group of people that really love God and love to be in his ministry.  We have no better friends on this earth then these men and women of God.  I want to especially thank Diane Stephens for the terrific Christmas baskets she provided for everyone.  She spends a lot of time and her own money for us each year and she doesn’t even know most of us but she is touched by what we stand for. Also we ant to thank the “Senior Moments” for coming back so soon and sharing with us.  I speak blessings on all those that worked so hard to make last Sunday a GREAT day.

I am going to miss you over the next 2 weeks as we will not meet on Christmas day or New Years day, but I am very excited about the year of 2012.  I hope we can keep the excitement of the last two weeks right into the New Year.  I hope to have some new ideas and new programs for this year and I hope you will help me make this year the best ever.

I did get good news from Anita. She is out of the hospital and back home.  She is feeling much better.  The prayers we have prayed this year, many have been answered others are going to be answered in the future and some God has a better idea then what we asked for.  I hope you will keep praying for those that don’t feel like they have much hope and who feel like they are alone and unloved.  If we can do anything better in 2012 I hope we can make people see that we love them just like they are.  We can accept you with your imperfections as we have them also.  Maybe together we can get rid of the problem areas of our lives and turn them from mistakes we made to lessons we have learned and now we are better for it.  As we have said so many times our God takes something bad in our lives into something good.  I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  This wish is from all the terrific members of Bartimaeus Baptist Temple to all those who may follow us online.  We hope that you will be able to visit us at 6929 Day St in Dallas Tx starting January 8 2012.  We meet at 2:30 in the afternoon and we would love to see new faces as we start the New Year.  May God bless you over the holidays and know that God has a special purpose for you, find it and get busy.

We love you,
Pastor David & Pris

 

Sunday December 18th 2011

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We had a great day at BBT on Sunday.  Sandra Hart had a guest, Pam, to help explain some question about Medicaid and Medicare prior to our services. She was very informative and had various handouts for us.  Sandra also gave tickets to anyone who brought a guest and Jana ended up winning a nice prize in the drawing.  We had a very good group and we had several familiar faces back this week.  Linda brought the Sunday school lesson on “myth-busters” about Christmas.  Larry brought the sermon on Prayer.  All in all it was a great day at Bartimaeus.

This week will be our Christmas party given to us by Heights Church.  We are so excited about seeing this great group of people back in our church.  They will have gifts for the members and food for the party.  The “Senior Moments” will be back this week to sing our favorite Christmas songs. I know we will have another good group in church as we celebrate the birth of OUR KING.  Service is going to start this week and this week only at 2PM.

This will be the last time we will be together before the end of the year.  I hope you will take some time and remember how God blessed you in 2011 and what you can do in 2012.  I hope you have a great Christmas and happy New Year.  Remember to pray for those we mention in prayer request last week and lets pray for this country.  We have a responsibility to do what we can and we can always lift this nation up in our prayers.  I am excited to see you on Sunday as we have a birthday party for Jesus.  We love you and want the very best for you and we speak blessings on you daily.

Pastor David & Priss

Message for December 11 – Why We Pray

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What comes to your mind when you think about prayer?  Depending on your tradition, it may be anything from an informal chat with God to a ritualized recitation.  Does the Bible say anything about how we are to pray?  What is prayer?  Why do we pray?  Can we expect God to answer or even to hear us?  In Matthew 6:9-13 we find what is commonly called The Lord’s Prayer.  Did He mean for us to recite it as some traditions do?  Did he mean it as an outline of how our prayers should be structured?  Or, did He mean it to be an example of the kinds of things that should be in our prayers?  Is it all inclusive?

This time of year you will hear a lot of “Christmas messages.”  It is a wonderful thing to celebrate the day on which Jesus made his appearance to the world in human form.  However, with this last opportunity to speak to you this year I would like to talk a little about the relationship that Jesus came to make possible.  During a time in which some of us may feel alone, I’d like to suggest to you that the best friend you ever had is just a word away.  On Sunday, we’ll try to answer some of those questions I just asked.  The Holy Spirit is still teaching me, and I’m excited to share with you what I’ve learned and am still learning so far.  I’m praying that I’ll see you there.  :)

 

Sunday December 4,2011

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The weather has changed and winter is here.  I hope we don’t have as much cold weather this winter as we had  hot weather this summer, but whatever we have we will be blessed.  Speaking of being blessed we had a blessing on Sunday.  There was not as many of us in church but we were really able to minister to one another especially during our prayers at the end of Sunday school.  I hope you will make plans to be in church this week because I promise if you come someone is going to bless you.

This week is about Christmas and we are going to talk about “Christmas is a God thing.”  The scripture verses this week are found in Luke the 1st chapter and verses 26-38.  It is the story about God’s angel coming to Mary and telling her about what God was about to do.  We are going to talk about why God had to do this for us.  I hope you had a great Thanksgiving last week and I hope you are looking forward to the Christmas season ahead.  Keep your priorities in order this season, enjoy the music the lights and gathering together with family and friends but remember Christmas is a God thing.  We are celebrating God coming down and being part of us in his son Jesus Christ.  Remember the question I asked you last week:  “Where would I be without God in my life?”  Here is another question  “Where would we be if Jesus had not left heaven and came to us as a baby in a manager?”

We have so much to be grateful for as we live each day of our lives under the watchful eye of a caring and loving father.  I hope you enjoy the life God is giving you and I hope you will share it with us.  We need you in our lives, and God wants you in his.  Be sure and check in on the prayer request posted on our website and let me give you a prayer request of my own.  My sister called us this morning and my brother in law may be about to lose his foot due to diabetes.  They are going to the doctor today and see if his foot can be saved. Please pray the doctors can do something to save his foot.  We love you all so much that the question I am asking is “What would I do without all of you?” I know my life would not be as full and blessed without each and every one of you in our lives.  We will see you on Sunday and lets do good things for the people God brings us into our lives this week.

Pastor David & Pris