Bartimaeus Baptist Temple

I think God must have had a hand in keeping me from posting this sooner, because my message has changed twice now.  I believe God gave me the one I was planning, but apparently it’s for another day.  In this time of the year when we rejoice in our blessings, I believe God has a message for us.  It’s not far from what I have wanted to speak about for several weeks now that I think about it, so thank You Lord for revealing the best way to share it.

I’ve been reading stories like the one in the link below for several months now.  Many of them involve violence and persecution on a far larger scale than this, but for some reason this morning my heart was caught by this young man’s story.  Occasionally you may hear an American Christian speak of persecution.  It is not unknown here and I do believe it will increase; but we hardly know the meaning of the word in this country.

We speak of the problems we have here.  They are real.  Our church exists to address a small part of them.  My thought this morning is that if ever there was a definition of “one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them” (Matt 25:40) it is the persecuted church around the world.  Explore the site where this story is from.  See what is happening in China, India, North Korea, Viet Nam, Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria, Indonesia, and the list goes on.  People who didn’t have much to start with are losing family, home, and livelihood for the sake of Jesus’ name.  We should be doing what we can to help everyone who is in need, but I believe we have a special responsibility to these who have given all to follow Him.  In a nation so rich that even our homeless can find enough to live on and in some cases have cell phones and Internet access, are we doing enough to help our fellow brothers and sisters who have been driven from their homes, crowded into squalid refugee camps, and tortured for their faith?  I don’t think so.

I’m writing this paragraph on Sunday morning.  God keeps expanding the message.  I’m not a prophet.  I’m not even that much into studying prophecy.  I believe everything in the Bible was put there for our benefit.  That means we should study the prophecy scriptures, but those which tell of times beyond the one we live in make up a small part of the whole.  We should not focus on end times to the exclusion of the things that show us how to live in the present.  Yet I feel that we are being warned.  Whether this is the time for all of the future prophecies to be fulfilled I will not guess, but it seems that our nation continues to move away from God.  He will not allow our wickedness to continue forever.  Real persecution is on the rise in this country, and I believe it will increase dramatically as judgment falls.  If we will heed the warning and repent there is still hope, but I believe that we must endure a time of tribulation in order that we may turn back to Him.  Today’s message is in part to make us aware of what is going on around the world and call us to action, but it is also to prepare us for what is coming.  God tells us clearly that the faithful should expect persecution.  Our faith is about to be put to the test.  Are you ready?

Compass Direct News

In February Jehanzaib Asher, 22, was working in a barbershop his family jointly owns with his cousin in Wana, South Waziristan – a Taliban stronghold in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in Pakistan’s northwest – when the Islamic militants showed up to try to convert him to Islam.

It was not the first time the Taliban’s Noor Hassan had delivered strident sermons to him and his relatives, and this time Asher decided not to listen silently. He defended Christianity by citing verses from the Bible, and Hassan and another Islamic militant viciously beat him – breaking his left leg and some ribs and leaving his left hand non-functional.

Good morning faithful followers of BBT.  I am having a great week and I hope you are also. I have been listing my blessing for the last 3 days and I find it hard to just do 3 per day.  Many of our blessings are “everyday” blessings, Like waking up in our right minds, the fact we have a job, a family, food to eat, etc.  These are things that don’t really change on a daily basis or at least we hope they don’t.  But what about those “special” blessing that you received this week, something that was unique for that day.  These “special” blessings are just for you and they are the ones that we remember.  We seem to take our “everyday” blessing for granite but these “special’ blessings we pay attention to.  I pray that we will start seeing our “everyday” blessings” as just as miraculous as  the ” special” blessings and I pray that there will be more and more of the “special’ blessings.  I believe when we start thanking God for the “everyday” blessings we will see more of the “special” blessings in our lives.  Starting on Thursday we are suppose to be praying for others.  As you are praying this week ask God to bring someone to your mind and then ask God to bless that person.  We can make a difference in somebody’s life and we may never know it, but God knows.

This weeks sermon is about our bedrock faith.  No it has nothing to do with the Flintstones.  The scripture is found in  Mark the 13Th Chapter and verses 1-8.  Do you ever make predictions?  Some prediction’s are easy to make for instance if you drive while drunk you will eventually have an accident.  But many of the predictions we make are just something we are guessing about or maybe hoping for.  This is not the case with Jesus.  He knew the future and if he said something was going to happen you can bet it would.  In this scripture he catches the disciples by suprise when he talks about the Temple being destroyed.   What was Jesus trying to show the disciples by this strange prediction and what does it mean for us.  I hope we will have a better understanding about what is needed to have rock solid, bedrock faith after we look more closely at these scriptures.  In the mean time I predict that God is going to bless you this week and I don’t have to be a “Houdini” to predict that.  This is an easy one because God loves you and me and wants to give us blessins every day and special blessing along the way.  Don’t overlook a single one.

One special blessing we will have Sunday is the chance to have Thanksgiving dinner together.  We never know how many Thanksgiving’s we are going to have so let’s make them all count.  I am excited about sharing this with you and let me predict that you will leave full, happy and blessed.  Now don’t make me a liar, be there and be ready to give as well as receive.  This will be the last Sunday we will be at church for 2 weeks and we will miss you terribly but let me have the opportunity to see you before we leave.  keep praying for others, keep loving without restrictions, keep forgiving without boundaries and do something good for the people around you.  May God bless you and we speak blessing and victory on you and your family.

Pastor David & Pris

Greetings followers of BBT.  I hope you are having a great week and I hope you are trying to make this place a better place to live.  I know I am better because you are part of my family of God.  I hope you enjoyed Summitt being with us on Sunday, it always amazes me how much trouble they go to, to be part of our ministry. They continue to bless us and I know that Joel will be coming to me around the end of the year to see if we still want them to come out each month. They have thought me so much about living in the Kingdom of God I would hate to think that they were not going to be part of us each month but I know what a commitment it is for them to do this. Lets pray that what ever God wants to do with this little church that we will be excited about the challenges and blessings he set before us.  I hope you will renew your commitment to this body of which you are a big part.  I am excited about the future but lets not overlook today by looking to tomorrow.

This week’s sermon is a strange one I call it “Good news about Death”.  I know that death is really something that we just don’t want to talk about and it certainly not something we see as good news because we know that when we go we leave everyone and everything behind. It is scary to think that we have to face death because it is something we have to do alone, or so we seem to think.  I remember talking to Barbara about death and she said I just don’t want to die alone, yet bless her heart there she was alone in her kitchen when her hearth stopped beating. Just seeing her there just broke my heart. You hear all the time that people just want to be at home when they die surrounded by friends and family, I know I do. But in the end it is you making that journey to the other side while everyone else stays here to mourn, or we hope they do! But there is good news and I believe that it is in the scripture we are reading this week John Chapter 11 vs 32-44. This is the story of Lazarus and Jesus raises him from the dead. We are going to see what the real reason Jesus chose to do this and we are going to discuss does God really care about me?  I can assure he does but in times of grieving we sometimes feel like God is so far away. This is where our faith comes in and it is important to understand what death really means.

I hope you will be in church on Sunday but I also hope you will be praying for this church on a daily basis. We have many members who need our prayers and if we can’t do anything else, we can pray. My family is praying for you and we thank God that we have the chance to do the work of the Master with such a dedicated and loving membership. Lets keep doing good things for others and keep looking for new ways to make others happy.  I speak Joy and Blessings on you in the name of our Heavenly Father. We love you!

Pastor David & Pris

Note from Larry:  I imported this post from our forum software on the day we are holding Pastor David’s memorial service.  I did not know beforehand what the topic was.  The link to the audio seems to have disappeared, but I still have the file and have attached it to this message because of the timeliness of his topic.

Good morning followers of BBT.  I hope you are feeling blessed this week.  I appreciate your concerns for me last week after the service but I am doing fine and really feeling very good.  We had another great service last week with Linda’s Sunday School lesson topped off by Larry’s beautiful song ” The Love of God”.  I was really moved by both.  It was good to see Anita back after a few weeks and I hope maybe this week she may be able to play the organ.

This week our scripture verse is going to be  in Mark the 10Th Chapter starting with verse 35-45.  You may not think there would be much good news about being ambitious after reading these verses but I believe we can be.  This is a story of two brothers Jesus calls the “The Sons of Thunder”.  That is a cool name.  We really have a fear of thunder and lighting don’t we .  it reminds me of the story, one summer evening during a violent thunderstorm a mother was tucking her small boy into bed. She was about to turn off the light when he asked with a tremor in his voice, “Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?”
The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. “I can’t, dear,” she said. “I have to sleep with Daddy.”   A long silence was broken at last by his shaky little voice: “The big sissy.” What a good Super Hero these guys would make.  But despite there closeness to Jesus they still did not understand what they were asking of Jesus in these scriptures.  Do we really understand what greatness is today.  Are we going by what the World calls Great or what Jesus calls Great.  Read these scriptures this week and I think you will get the picture.  I believe we are all capable of greatness if we understand what it means to be Great in the kingdom of God.

Keep praying for those that need our help and remember to check the prayer room every day so you will remember who we are asking for pray for.  This week we will celebrate our birthday and anniversary for this month on Sunday so invite someone to come with you and let’s celebrate our good fortune.  Do something good for somebody this week, try loving those people you find hard to love and see what a blessing you will receive.  We love you and will see you Sunday!

Pastor David & Pris

WOW, What a great day we had last week. Pastor Sorge really blessed us with a message of hope and I know I was sorry to see him have to go.  I hope we get a chance to hear him again.  What a humble and devoted servant this man of God is.  I hope you were one of the lucky ones that got a chance to meet him.

This week I am going to be preaching from the book of Mark again, this time chapter 9 vs 38-50.  The title of the sermon is “Be at peace with one another” If we can do anything in our lifetime to make this world a better place we  should be spreading the Peace of God to everyone we meet.  unfortunately if we have no peace we are not going to be the examples Christ wants us to be.  I know how hard it is to have peace in these troubled times but I promise you, no let me rephrase that, God promises us we can have peace not just any peace but perfect peace even in these trying times.  I want to show you this week what God has shown me in these verses on what we can do, and not do, to have peace that passes all understanding and show us who we are.  I hope you will be able to be at church on Sunday and bring a quest with you,

On Wendsday the 7Th we will make our annual trip to the State Fair of Texas.  If you are interested in going please let me know before Sunday. We always have a great time and it is something we can do as a church to fellowship outside the walls of church.  We can be witnesses to the people we see at the Fair and show them that our God is good and we have the joy of the Lord in our lives.  Continue to pray for those that are hurting and if you have a prayer request please let me know and I will get the word to the other members and let us pray for you.  Thanks again for all you do for this ministry and this minister.  I could never tell you how privileged me and Pris feel just to be a part of this ministry.  I am going to make it a point to do something good for somebody this week why not join me.  We love you and can’t wait to see you on Sunday

In God’s Love
Pastor David & Priscilla