Thursday, December 31, 2015

Home


Home is surely where the heart is.  And the heart is where home is.  And home is made up of more than walls, furniture and rooms because heart and home are truly intangible.  Love and respect, honor and dignity, significance and value, laughter and empathy coalesce to become that place of refuge and comfort that is truly the heart and hearth of home.

We know full well that the church, as the Body of Christ, encompasses all of these values and becomes the true home of extended family.  And each of us has been adopted in, some decades or generations ago, some only recently as “newborns”. 

Though she sometimes attended services in a building, Victoria had never entered into the true family life “at home” in a church.  But friends are sometimes as near as family, and family never gives up on family.  So it was with a young man from her school who invited her to his youth group middle school Lock-In their sixth-grade year.  At the time it just didn’t jive for Victoria, so she didn’t return.

Yet love is ever-present and ever-active.  Just as the fragrance of Christ permeates an environment, love and respect speak powerfully to watching and listening hearts.  As Victoria observed those attributes in the family life of her ever-faithful friend over the following months, she was prompted to say yes to his second invite to the Lock-In during their seventh-grade year.  And Victoria’s heart responded to the call to come home.  She began to attend Fusion and church services regularly and was enveloped by the love of God and of His people.  She joyfully embraced a relationship with Jesus Christ and her brothers and sisters at Salem First Baptist.
Along with heaven, this home at SFBC is where Victoria’s heart is and where she has begun to serve with an excited passion, blessed by those intangible and intrinsic values of the church.  What a wonderful home and family, a place to truly belong, even as a young teen attending on her own!  We love you, Victoria, and rejoice in your love for Jesus and the church!

Thursday, December 17, 2015

Missionaries in Our Daily Lives


What a joy it has been to work with the Global Mission Team (GMT) at SFB.  This team has such a great heart for the furtherance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They believe that the Living God is a missionary God. They have the great privilege of taking your hard earned dollars and allocating those funds toward fulfilling the great commission. Our desire is that all of our missionaries will bring people into a life changing relationship with God and each other.
Did you know that our church helps support 30 missionaries in our city and around the world?  Do you know any of these missionaries’ names?  How about their children’s names? Do you know where they serve and what they do? More importantly do you pray for them?  Would you like to know them better, contact them once in awhile and be a prayer partner with them? If so, please contact us.
Let me share a few things that I am learning from our missionaries that I believe we could incorporate in our daily lives:
·         They have a purpose and a longing in their hearts to be a friend to the Lord God, to become a co-worker with Him and live for a purpose larger than themselves.  The way we can live with significance is to devote ourselves to a purpose that is larger than our life. 
·         They have a passion in their hearts that is both seized and satisfied with the ambition for Jesus to be ardently worshiped.  Is our heart set free to pursue that which is truly worthy? 
·         Our missionaries pursue a God-given vision and plan. They no longer dream about what could happen. They become convinced that certain things must happen. Are we willing to give our utmost for God’s purposes?
·         Our missionaries have a strategy for winning people to Christ, not hesitating nor hurrying, but persistently continuing to do whatever it takes to finish the task God has given them.  What task has God given you?
·         They dutifully perform what is required and so they are sometimes overwhelmed in the face of sacrifice. Despite the high cost, our missionaries are faithful and dedicated to Jesus.  Are we faithful when God asks us to sacrifice?
Why do they do what they do? They believe the Word of God.  Jesus said GO and they are GOING daily to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ trusting Him to transform lives. Do you truly believe that what you believe is really true?  If so, are you an ambassador for Christ in your daily lives?
Serving together,
Leon and the GMT

Friday, December 4, 2015

ENCOURAGEMENT


 
In my devotions today I read Psalm 37, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to The Lord, trust also in Him and He shall bring it to pass.  Rest in the Lord, wait patiently for Him … do not fret.”
WOW … these words encourage no matter what is going on in your life … but, especially for the one who is hopeless.  Mel Conrad feels God’s call to share what He is teaching her when life feels hopeless.  She has learned through life experiences, personal growth and educational training that there can be life after loss … death, divorce, career, relationships …whatever it is that has been taken.
There are tremendous needs on many levels for those suffering loss … personal needs, healing from brokenness, discovery of unknowns … can God help? Even those who do not yet know God or embrace His Truth can experience moving from mourning to joy after loss.  Yes, God can help and Mel is part of a ministry here at First Baptist that joins with God to do just that.  One does not have to go far to discover families in pain – flawed – with fractured relationships, living in despair.   There are predictable stages that a person goes through during a loss before they arrive on the other side with hope -- hope comes from Jesus.   Grief Share and Divorce Care are ministries of need that touch, heal, restore and bring hope. 
No one signs up for loss;  no one wants it to go the way shattered dreams.  Most struggle to persevere and make relationships work, make them last … but, reality is it takes at least three – the couple and Jesus.  Meditation, prayer and counseling can bring clarity but even then it is painful.  God allows loss not to cripple us but as a conduit to carry grace and mercy to one another.  Mel says, “I was called to share hope, understanding and the grief process with any who have experienced loss.”  She continues to show up to facilitate our “help groups” because she knows there is no hope or forward movement when we look back.  Only when we look forward at The WORD can a person discover salvation, hope and a glorious future. 
No matter what the loss, Mel says she has learned a key piece to healing is in the opportunity to share with another going through a similar experience.  She has faced … death of a spouse, and loss through divorce…  both have been journeys that have propelled her to share with others.  We all want to belong to someone, to feel we are not alone, especially when experiencing a great loss.  Our “help groups” provide a safe place to process, to feel comfortable sharing, to find your voice, to come to a sense of balance, to explore doubts and fears and to express hope in moving forward.
Referencing Isaiah 61:1-3, in the synagogue  Jesus’ interprets His mission but also reveals the ministry He wants His people to perform … I think I can safely say that Mel feels this is her call to serve those grieving a loss.  “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, to and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness … “ 
In this season of giving, could God be calling you to minister to His children who are hurting?


Janice Adams