Blessings to you, family and friends of Bartimaeus Baptist Temple.  I am thankful for the honor of speaking to you again this Sunday and I’m excited to share what God has given me.  Last Sunday we had a small crowd.  We missed you all, but there sure was enough food to go around. 🙂  No one had any reason to leave hungry, physically or otherwise.  Priscilla delivered a moving lesson about trusting God no matter the circumstances and Pastor David spoke of extravagant devotion to Jesus.

linda and I stay tuned into the news most of the time.  I don’t know about you, but sometimes I find it hard to keep perspective in the face of everything that’s happening right now.  It seems our country and our world is falling apart.  That’s because it is.  It will continue to do so until the Lord’s return.  As long as He allows us to go our own way, we will keep choosing the wrong way  What does a Christin do with this knowledge?

It’s tempting to withdraw.  Some people like a good fight.  I think it’s safe to say most of us would rather not.  I will go out of my way to avoid controversy .  Oh every once in a while I might write or share something a bit provocative on my blog or social media, but even there I am more careful than I used to be.  Sometimes the fight is worth having, but if winning only causes you to lose the larger objective, then you have really lost.  The objective should always be to bring more people into God’s family.

That doesn’t mean that we should avoid speaking the truth when it needs to be spoken.  That’s the message for this week.  As our society becomes increasingly divided and hostile, our temptation will be to go along to get along.  I’m telling you, that breaks God’s heart.  Now more than ever we must be willing to speak out boldly for the truth.  There is a solution to the hatred, lawlessness, and moral depravity around us.  His name is Jesus.  There is no other.  You can’t put enough police on the streets.  You can’t run a government tightly enough.  Until we turn to Yahweh, we will seek out evil, and we will find it and even call it good.  Most of us haven’t really had to deal with persecution on any significant level, but it is on the increase.  What will we do?  Peter has some instructions for us in his letter to Christians who were being persecuted in his day.  We’re going to focus on 1 Peter 3:8-18.  It’s a good summary of what we should do and how we should live so that what we say will be heard.  Don’t be shy.  Be bold!

I apologize for not posting the prayer requests from our July 3rd service.  As I recall I had to get up and help with the video and then I forgot that the request were never sent out.  I found the draft when I went to do the ones for last Sunday.  If there is something from that week that hasn’t been brought up at other times that you want us to put out there, let me know on the web site or directly and we will post it.

Pray for each other.  Encourage each other.  See you Sunday!

Larry