Blessings to you, loved ones.  Our Texas summer is still hanging on, but I hear the worst will soon be behind us.  Thank the Lord that it really wasn’t so bad this year.  The worst of the heat may be breaking, but things are heating up here at BBT.  Read on for more.

This will be a fifth Sunday, which usually means food, but since our Homecoming celebration is just two weeks away, we ‘ll wait until then.  I’ll provide more details on that later, but for now I will just say that due to lingering concerns over the virus, we will be scaling back our traditional Homecoming activities in order to keep the crowd a little smaller.  Anyone who wants to come is welcome, but we will not be sending out invitations or catering in the meal.

We missed Tim and Cindy last week as Tim was in the hospital.  They were able to find out what was preventing him from being able to eat and he is back home resting.  Keep him in prayer.  One of the things they did was remove a mass and sent it for biopsy.

Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve seen extensive coverage of the Democrat and Republican national conventions.  I don’t remember this much attention ever being paid to them before.  I think the mood of the country, the conditions resulting from our response to the corona virus, and therefore the presentation format of the conventions contributed to the unusual amount of coverage.  I see it as a good thing.  I hope people were taking note.

One of the things that happens at these conventions is the construction of the party platform.  This is a document that outlines the core positions of each party.  Anyone running for office under the banner of that party is thereby making a statement that he or she is in agreement with the platform.  That is why it’s important to be familiar with these documents before you go to the polls.  Yes, that oversimplifies things a bit, but it is a very useful starting point.

But there’s another question that we need to answer first.  What is your platform?  On what foundation do you stand?  What forms the basis for the decisions you make?  Is your life built upon the rock of God’s word, or the shifting sands of worldly philosophy, the word of a talking head, or whatever is hot this week?  The storms are going to come.  I think our nation is on the edge of a big one that will make Hurricane Laura a footnote.  Are we ready?  Is the church ready?

Our study this week is from Matthew 7:24-27.  The passage begins “Therefore,” so I kept backing up to see how much material that there therefore was for.  But the clue in this case is to go forward.  Jesus is wrapping up what we call “the sermon on the mount”.  That’s a bit much to cover in one message unless I want to try like Paul to talk all night.  We’ve just one floor so I don’t have to worry about anyone falling out of a window, but I do want y’all to come, so I’ll be content to start back in verse 13 for some context.  🙂

See you there.

Love you all!

Larry