We had a great day in church last Sunday at Bartimaeus Baptist Temple.  Linda read from Ecclesiastes the 3rd Chapter about a time for everything.  As we start this New Year what is it time for us to do, what changes do we need to make. Larry brought his message about hearing God.  Do we ignore him when God speaks to us or do we just not hear him?  I think we all need to be better listeners and then be bold in doing what he has for us to do.

I am going to speak about being afraid of God this week.  I know what it is like to be afraid. I know you do also.  We have all been afraid at times in our life.  We are born into a new world as babies and we are afraid of everything.  It takes loving parents to teach us that we don’t have to be afraid of everything.  The older we get we lose that fear. Do you remember some of the things you did as a teenager?  It is only by God’s grace that we did not kill ourselves.  Then as we get into our senior years we start becoming afraid all over again.  That is just the cycle of life.  It is good to be afraid and careful in some things, but we need not fear our Heavenly Father. We need to respect him but He loves us with an everlasting love that we may not understand but we do not have to fear it.  I am going to read a parable that is Matthew the 25Th Chapter vs 14-30.  It is a story of three servants that were given a duty from the master to look after what he gave them while he was gone.  In this story one of these men is so afraid of his master that he takes the Gold (talents) the master gave him and buried it.  There is no way we can be the kind of person God has for us to be if we are afraid to step out of our comfort zone and be BOLD for God.  We will need to be able to, like Larry spoke about last week, hear God.  We cannot blame others we must be responsible for our actions and our failure’s to act.  I hope you will join us this week as we look at how we can lose our fears and go places we have never gone before.  Like Linda said last week, it is time.

Please continue to pray for the fireman from Lindale we spoke about last week and continue to remember Jerry and Perry as they continue to battle with cancer.  Anita is doing better and we hope she will be able to leave the hospital this week.  Join us Sunday as we finish up the first month of the New Year and invite someone to come with you. Keep doing good things in Christ name and hear God this week.

We love you,

Pastor David and Pris