Sunday July 18th, 2010

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Well goodafternoon or goodmorning or goodevening depending on when you are reading this.  I hope you are having a great day at whatever time it is.  I am so excited  today and I really don’t know why.  It is middle of the week, it is hot outside and the aircondition in my truck is not working.  My Wife is still feeling bad but I just have a feeling God is about to do something really special in my life and I can’t wait to see what it is.  Have you ever felt like this?  You don’t know what is coming but you know it is going to be good.

We really had a great celebration Sunday and we were honored to have Pastor Steve Bidwell preach this week.  He is a fellow Bible study partner with Larry on Thursday morning and it was really great to meet him and have him worship with us.  Attendance was down again this week but I am convinced that God has His anointment on this place and He will contine to bless this ministry as long as we are about his business.  I need you to help me encourage those that have been out lately that we missed them and need them to be an active part of this ministry.

This week I am going to be preaching from Luke the 10Th Chapter  verses 38-42.  This is the story of Jesus coming to the house of Martha and Mary and the problems that arise between these two sisters.  As close as they were, along with their brother Lazarus, this story shows how human we are and how out of place our priorties can become.  I want you to read these verses this week and I want you to try to see things from Martha’s viewpoint.  Jesus corrects her attitude in this story but lets see why she is so like many of us today.  Is there a change we need to make in our priorities?  When I look at how we have placed such a low priority on Worship in this country, I can’t help but believe we are in the mess we are in by our own making.  When it comes to Work, Play and Worship in this society we seem to Worship our Work, Work at our Play, and Play at our Worship.  What we can do to change that? We can start by being like Mary and sit at the feet of Jesus and learn from him.

I hope to see you on Sunday.  Please continue to pray for those who are sick and hurting and lets get excited about what God has planned for us.  Remember his dreams are bigger than our dreams and his ideas are bigger than our ideas. I have a great idea, lets go with his dreams and his ideas and see where they take us.  Hopefully they will take you to Church on Sunday and we can worship the way God intended us to do so.  Do good things for everyone you meet this week and God will have you drinking from your saucer.
We love you and pray that God will contine to bless you and keep you in paths of righteousness till we see each other again.

Pastor David & Pris

Sunday July 11,2010

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Good afternoon followers of BBT.  I hope you had a great 4Th of July weekend.  We celebrated the 4Th on Sunday with the final lesson on reading the Bible in 90 days and I am so grateful that we were introduced to this program through Linda and we appreciate all her hard work in leading us to the end.  We also got to hear the “Senior Moments” as they sang all of those patriotic songs we love to hear.  I hope you will make plans on being at church this week as we have another guest speaker “in the house!”

Pastor Steven Bidwell will be with us this week and he is going to bring a message on Philippians starting in the 1st Chapter.  Pastor Bidwell is a former pastor at Calavery Baptist Church in Cottonwood Texas and is currently working on his Doctry of Minister degree at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.  Pastor Bidwell is in a bible study group with Larry Thacker and has agreed to preach for us on Sunday.  I hope you will invite someone to come with you and share in the fellowship.  Priscilla is anxious to start teaching Sunday School again and I know God has something for her to share with us.

Please keep praying for those mention in our prayer request.  If you have a special prayer request please call me and I will have Pam get the prayer chain started.  I know it is hot outside but don’t let that stop you from serving our Great and Wonderful God.  He has provided us with a Church that is aircondition and a comfortable place to worship.  I hope you will take advantage of all he has provided for us.  This Saturday the young people, and some not so young, From Heights Church will be at the church working in the flower beds and cleaning out storerooms so don’t be surprised if our church has a new spring look when you come on Sunday.  This is just another example of how great our God is.  We are looking forward to seeing you on Sunday and I hope you are doing good things with the good things God has given you.  May God bless you and keep you and we will see you Sunday!

Pastor David & Pris

Sunday July 4,2010

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Greetings fellow Christians and followers of BBT.  I feel like Paul writing to the church at Bartimaeus.  I wonder how Paul would have loved to be able to send his letters out through a blog or email? But his letters were meant to be delivered through a personal messenger and delivered personally. There is still something exciting about having a message brought to you personally.

We had a great time last week in church and by looking at how empty the pews were most of you missed it. Larry brought a great message on “The Love of God” and I think he has several follow up messages for us over the next few months. Don did a great job leading us in our Bible study. Speaking of that, this is the last week and we will have done what we had set out to do, read the Bible in 90 Days or close to it. If you are not through don’t give up keep plugging along.  I hope this will start a new challenge to have time set aside each week to read God’s word and apply it in our lives.

This weekend is the celebration of our Independence as a Country and I can not think of a better way to celebrate it than to be in our church and having the ” Senior Moments ” come and sing the patriotic songs that we all know and love.  I hope you will make plans to be in Church to help us celebrate this great Country we live in. And as I mentioned earlier we will also finish our Bible Study that we started back in February.  I will miss the lessons we had each Sunday afternoon but I know Pris will be able to pick up where we left off as she begins to teach Sunday School again starting on July 11Th.

I have a special prayer request from one of our trustee’s Jerry Gibson. He has asked for us to pray for some dear friends of his Liz and Mike O’Brien. IT seems Liz had to have a double mastectomy and she and Mike are still struggling with her recovery. We pray that the cancer is gone and in Jesus name we pray for a full recovery for this family. Keep praying for Mike Accidental has he is going through his Chemotherapy treatment and remember Kay as she has now been released from the rehab center but she is still in need of our prayers.  I hope you will go to our prayer request section every week and pray for the prayer request we mentioned on Sunday and please call me if you have a special request you would like to have put on the prayer chain.  I hope to see all of your bright and shiny faces in Church this week and let’s celebrate this country the way it was meant to be celebrated. Worshiping GOD! We love you so much and hope to see you on Sunday. May God bless you and keep you and remember to do good things just because it is the right thing to do.

Pastor David & Pris

Message for June 27 – How God Loves You

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We hear it all the time in church.  It’s one of the things we tell people when we are encouraging them to accept Jesus as Lord.  God loves you.  What does that mean?  How is that love expressed?  Do you ever wonder if He really does love you?

You may remember a few months back when we talked about love using 1 John 4:7-5:3 as our base text.  Over the next few months, unless the Holy Spirit has other plans, we will examine each of the points we covered that day in detail.  This week we will focus on 1 John 4:9-10.  I look forward to seeing you there and once again talking about my favorite subject.  Special thanks to Pastor David for giving me the opportunity.

Sunday June 20th 2010

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What a great day we had last Sunday as Rev Douglas Johnson brought the message “What’s for dinner?”. He also played the piano for the service and he really moved us with his songs.  I hope he will be back soon! We have finished up the Old Testament and are going through the Gospel’s this week and it is just a few weeks away from our graduation. If nothing else this Bible study has gotten us to commit to reading the Bible more and I hope we will not  stop now. My prayer is that the Bible will be a daily part of your life and you will continue to see what God has to say to us through his scripture.

This Sunday is Fathers day and I am really excited about the chance to celebrate it with you my kids.  I may not be old enough to be your father but I hold the postion of pastor of this congregation so I feel like I am responsible for leading you and setting an example for you. This week I am going to be talking about a story Jesus told about a wonderful father, and then relates it to our Heavenly Father. The scripture this week is one you should have read this week in your bible study it is Luke 15:11-12. This is the familiar story of the “prodigal son” or as we look at it this week the parable of “a loving Father”.  I hope you will be here Sunday to celebrate with us. And as we did on Mother’s day if you have a story you would like to share about your father please be prepared to do so.

Please keep praying for Mike as he goes back to the doctor this week. I will keep you updated as soon as I hear something. And pray for all our sick and suffering members who are battling all sorts of sickness and other problems. IT is our responsibility to pray for the ones who need a touch from God because by doing so we unleash the power of God inside of each of us. Keep working hard doing the business of God and keep doing good things for other people.  I can’t wait to see you on Sunday. We love you and may God bless you and your family.

Pastor David & Pris

Sunday June 13th

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Good afternoon members of the BBT family.  I hope you are having a great day and a great week.  If there is one thing I have learned from becoming a senior citizen that is you really need to appreciate every day and every moment of that day.  Life is way too short to waste.  That does not mean that you have to have your day totally filled with something to do.  There is a time we should be able to relax, read a good book watch a good show on T.V. go out with your family.  Life is not about filling up all the moments of the day but about enjoying the moments of the day.

We had very few at Church on Sunday but we really had a good time.  In our Bible study last week we went through the books of Jeremiah and Lamentations and Ezekiel and the first 8 chapters of Daniel.  What a tough life the Prophet’s had in the Old Testament but what a great lesson we learn from them.  I now understand how patient and gracious our God is.  If he did not love Israel so much he would not have cared about them and the same is true of you and me.  God does not hate us when we disappoint him he just wants us to be better because he loves us SO MUCH.  I hope you will see that God is for us not against us.

This week we will have a guest speaker Rev. Douglas Johnson.  Rev. Johnson has spent 25 years working with the Ambassadors of Christ.  He has also help build a church in Desoto working with the Texas Baptist Men Assoc.  He has served as assistant Pastor for 10 years at the New Friendship Missionary Baptist Church. He has received his Bachelor’s of Science degree in business from Le Tourneau University, a master degree in Ministry and is in the process of completing his Doctorate in Theology.  He is currently serving in ministry as an Elder at the Potter’s House under Bishop T.D. Jake’s.  I am excited that he will be preaching at our service on Sunday so please invite someone to come with you on Sunday and let’s worship and praise the Lord together this week.

Please keep praying for Mike. He has become Jaundice because of all the radiation but they did show his Liver and Kidney was clear of cancer.  He is really feeling poorly but I know God is doing a great work in him as I type this note.  Please keep praying for this ministry and lets spread the word of the Love of our forgiving and gracious God.  Keep doing good things for others so they will see God living in us.  We love you and excited about seeing you on Sunday

Pastor David & Pris

Sunday June 6th 2010

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Well here we are BBT members in the month of June.  Where has the time gone. It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating  Christmas and now this year is almost half gone.  I hope you had a terrific Memorial day.  We did and I have the sunburn to prove it. I look like a lobster ready to be boiled.

We had a GREAT time at church last week and if you missed it check out the recording of  Larry’s special music and his sermon.  They were both very inspiring!  We had some special guest visiting this week in Joe and Dixie.  I really enjoyed visiting with them for the few moments we had together.  We had a terrific Sunday School time in Sharing in the Book of Isiah and Jeremiah.

This week I am going to be talking about how to overcome Discouragement.  The scripture this week is Luke 7: 11-17.  I heard of awful story this week about a man who family was killed in a car accident and he was burned over 50 % of his body.  His remaining family is concerned that he has lost the will to fight for his life after he lost his wife and two children.  It is very hard some times to find the resolve to keep going but that is what makes us as human beings so remarkable.  We do have the ability to overcome great tragedies that occur in our lives.  It is not easy but we do have help.  I hope to show you what Jesus has for us in these scripture this week as we read about a Widowed Mother who has lost her only son.  It is a sad story with a terrific ending and I think there are some great lessons to be learned.

I hope you will make plans to be at church on Sunday as we bring in the month of June and I hope you will invite someone to come with you.  We love being part of this body and we miss you when you are not there. I have a special prayer request for Chuck and Lee Cagle and there other member of Senior Moments, Janie.  They are really struggling with some health issues and other things right now and need your prayers.  Please remember them in your prayers this week. Please keep doing good things for the people around you and keep believing the PROMISES God has made to those “that are called according to his purpose”.  We love you and are praying for you and can’t wait to see you on Sunday.

Pastor David and Pris

Message for May 30 – Can God Trust You?

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Once again I thank Pastor David for the opportunity to speak to you this Sunday.

We talk a lot about putting our trust in God, and we should.  He is the only one who will never betray that trust.  I should point out that may not mean He does what we think He should do, but that’s another topic for another time.  We can trust in His character and in His love.

When I decided to frame the message this way, it felt a little awkward.  After all, God knows us.  He knows all of our shortcomings.  How can we even ask if He can trust us?  Granted, it’s not quite the same kind of relationship, but He has chosen to entrust each of us with qualities, abilities, and assets that He expects us to put to work for His kingdom.  We’re going to look at two parables that Jesus used to illustrate this principle.  You may be more familiar with the one in Matthew 25:14-30, but there is a similar story in Luke 19:11-27.  You may want to read both of them before you come and make your own notes about the similarities and differences in the stories.  They seem like very harsh words, and in deed there is a strong warning in them, but I hope you will also see the grace and generosity of our Lord shining through by the time we are done.

Sunday May 23rd 2010

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Good afternoon followers of BBT.  If you had not heard we were very upset about the diagnoses Mike Accdential received from the Doctor on Monday.  He was advised he had stage 4 lung cancer and their was nothing that could be done enclosed is the latest report from Cindy’s Facebook:

Mike is going to get a port in 5/19/10. Went to get a second opinion 5/18/10 from Dr Haggar with Texas Oncology. Mike does not have stage 4 Lung Cancer. He does have Multiple Tumors in his lympnoids causing cancer cells to develop, Stage 2 or 3. Lungs are clear of any signs of Cancer. This is treatable not curable. Starts chemo 5/28/10 with Baylor.

This is really great news compared to what we had been told earlier.  It is still serous but not as critical as we first thought.  See God hears our prayers!

I talked with Joel this week from Summitt and they have so much going on over the Summer they asked to take a break during the summer months of May June and July and hopes to return back in August.  Summitt has been so committed over the last two years we will miss them but maybe we will have a better appreciation for them when they start back up.  What this means for you is that you will have to put up with me this week.  Pris will do a regular Sunday School class as we had taken this week off from the Bible Study but we will start back on the 30Th.  Larry will be preaching on the 30Th.

I hope to see you in Church on Sunday and thanks for praying for Mike this week.  If you have a special prayer request if you will call me I will call Pam and get the prayer chain started.  Keep doing good things keep thinking good thoughts and keep believing God loves you!  We love you too and will see you on Sunday.

Pastor David & Pris

Sunday May 16, 2010

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Well beloved followers of BBT we made it through another week and  once again I see how good God is.  I have been blessed with a fresh outlook on some scripture I had not understood so well and God just keeps blessing me and it is only  Wednesday!  I love reading through the book of Psalms and Proverbs because even though it was written so long ago it just seems to speak to me as if those were my cries and my praises.

We had a great time at Church last Sunday and it was so good to see Sammy back! Elke had her daughter and grandkids with her to celebrate Mothers day and Cathy and her husband Benni were there with Ruth.  We also had Lisa visiting with us for the first time and I hope she will get the chance to be back with us often.

This week I have just one verse  I want you to look at before Sunday.  It is Matthew 12:25.  I am going to be talking to you about something that has been on my mind for a long time.  I want to talk to you about what is it that is driving a wedge between us as Christians.  What is keeping us from achieving all the success that God wants us to have.  As I was listing last week to the story of Job I was thinking how many of us are like the “so called” friends Job had.  Are we so quick to criticize and so slow to try and comfort our brothers and sister in pain that we actually do more harm then good.  I hope you will be here Sunday and ready to participate in the service.  I love it when I look at there and see in your faces that you really get what I am trying to get across.  I may not explain things as well as I should sometimes but take it upon yourself to find out what God is trying to have us see.  Maybe you can show me something that I might have misunderstood and in doing so you will be helping me to become a better preacher.

Not let me be a minister for a moment.  I want all of you to be saying a prayer for Mike Accidental.  His surgery on Monday showed that there were some Cancer cells and he will not know until Monday the 17Th if they are maligent or not.  Please pray with me that God will deliver Mike from this cancer and he will receive a good report on Monday.  Our prayers are going up every night for Mike and Cindy and their family.  If you have something you would like us to be praying about please call me or Pris and let us know so we can pray with you.  Keep doing good things for other people and I will see you on Sunday.  may God bless you and keep you may his face shine upon you.

We Love you

Pastor David and Pris