Where's Your Focus?

Take a minute and read Esther 5:9-15. What an amazing situation. All that he had! Yet, there was ONE thing that was not as he wanted and that ONE thing caused him to build the very gallows that he would hang on! The title of these musings is "Focus". Despite all his blessings, the ONE thing Haman focused on took his life and the lives of those in his family. What we FOCUS on determines the course of our lives and that of those we love. What has been the FOCUS of 2015? What should be the FOCUS of the years to come?        Colossians 3:2 tells us where to focus. “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth." Heb. 12:2 tells us on Whom to focus, "looking unto Jesus". Matt 24:42 tells why our focus needs to be correct: "Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come." Each of us has been given a race to run called the Christian life. As in any race, we cannot be looking to the right or left to see how our competition is doing (John 21:21), and we certainly cannot be looking behind us to see how those trailing are doing, or to see how far we have come. Philippians 3:13-14 says it so well; the Cunningham translation says, "We ain't there yet. Focus on one thing. Forget the past. Look to the future. One day we will see Jesus and it will be worth it all." When we were first saved, someone said to us, "Keep your eyes on Jesus,” and although we have heard that many times since, it is still as important. So many things have happened, so many people have come and gone in our lives , so many wonderful miracles and so many very trying times have been experienced, but there is a constant, a Rock on Whom we stand, Who has promised us, "I will never leave thee." So when we determine to focus on Him, He will always be there to see. Haman's one wrong FOCUS took his life. Our one FOCUS gives us life and that life more abundantly. --Pastor Jim Cunningham

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!

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