Well as we begin preparations for the month of February I want to invite you to make plans to be at Vision every Sunday morning as we study the word of God on how to deepen our love relationship with our spouse and our children. Every Sunday morning I will preach on the family. Betty loves it when I preach on the family because she says it causes me to be a better husband so maybe it will work in your family too.
On the last Sunday night we are going to to do something very special. I hope you will make plans now to take part in our Wedding Vow Renewal service. We will have a regular wedding service–our first at Vision Baptist Church. We will each take our spouse by the hand and repeat our wedding vows once again. We will look into each other’s eyes and renew our promises to be the man and woman we intended to be.
It is always a sweet time when we renew our vows. Betty and I have renewed our vows at least once a year average for the last 33 years. We believe in marriage. We believe in love. I hope you will not miss any of the wonderful things that we have planned for this month.
Andrew Holt is the son of Jason and Lori Holt, our missionaries to Chile. Andrew is just a few weeks old. The Holt family has really had a battle of it, dealing with sickness in the whole family, the purchase of the land, a youth camp and the hardest of all little Andrew has been in the hospital. We got the following email as the latest update and I want to ask you to please be praying:
We found out today that Andrew does have a viral infection - which means that he does not need antibiotics and that the risk are much lower. But, the doctors are still waiting for the results of the bacterial infection cultures. If he has a bacterial infection too, then things get more serious. Either way, he will probably be in the hospital 4-5 more days. He has been running a fever of 100-102 for the last 48 hours.
Be praying. We should know more about the test results on Thursday.
Well what can I say! Today God richly blessed us and I am very thankful to Him for all that He did today. I hope you are as excited and grateful to God as I am. We had 99 in Sunday School, 134 in the morning service, and 76 in the evening. God allowed us to see 9 of our people baptized today. What a wonderful day!
I could never explain to you how excited I am to have the opportunity to serve God with Vision Baptist Church. These are the most exciting days of my life and I praise God for what He is allowing us to do.
This afternoon we had 32 people to be with us for the World Evangelism Committee. What a blessing to learn about what God wants to do with us as we try to work as a church to reach the world with the gospel messge.
Now I am in Dearing, Georgia sitting upstairs in the living room while my daughter is in the basement with the midwife getting ready to give birth to number 5. I thank you for praying for Stephanie and for little Matthew who is about to come into this world.
Depending on how long I am going to be up I will get you some posts up about the services and also some baptism pictures. Let me say one more time that I am so privileged and blessed to have the opportunity to work with you. Pastoring Vision Baptist Church is the dream of a life time. I believe with all my heart that we are poised to see God do some great and wonderful things. Thank you for allowing me to work with each of you.
The following is the transcript of my message delivered to the Georgia Senate at the invitation of Senator Chip Pearson.
The Word of God says in Psalm 105:22, “and to teach his senators wisdom.” It is interesting for me to stand here before you, our state senators, and find in the Word of God that God had sent a man to teach the senators; the elder statesmen, the leaders of the country wisdom. The Bible says in Proverbs 4:7 that “wisdom is the principal thing. Therefore get wisdom and with all thy getting get understanding.” I want to challenge you today, because God has placed you in a position of leadership, to consider the importance of wisdom. The Bible says that wisdom is the “principal thing.” According to the Bible, wisdom has many inherent blessings. It will promote you and bring you honor. Wisdom will help you lead without partiality or selfishness. Wisdom will help you discern what is right and true. I want to give you three quick thoughts this morning that might help you understand how to get more wisdom.
The Bible says that the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord (Proverbs 3:5-6.) So, the first thought before you today, as you govern and make decisions about this great state of Georgia, is the fear of the Lord. Recognizing the fear of the Lord means that you will realize there is a God and you stand before Him in a place that He has allowed you to have. You must not take these decisions lightly. My first questions to you would be, “Do you believe there is a God?” “Do you understand that you are responsible before Him in the position of leadership He has placed you?” “Do you realize that God expects you to be a person who respects and honors Him, and knows He is there?”
Be careful to live and act in such a way that you need never say as Abraham Lincoln did in 1863 “We have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.”The second thought the Bible says is that you should cease from your own wisdom. Nobody likes a know-it-all. Many times when we come to place where God has given us a leadership position, it causes us to be haughty. Leadership sometimes causes us to think that we know things we don’t really know; however, you should have the desire to know God and to get His wisdom. To get His wisdom, the first thing is to realize that there are two kinds of wisdom. One is earthy, sensual, and even devilish while the other is pure, peaceable, gentle, full of good fruits and without partiality or hypocrisy. You need God to direct and guide you. As you make laws, realize your need for God’s wisdom. On another occasion Abraham Lincoln said“I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom, and that of all about me, seemed insufficient. . . .” Here in this room, you need to cease from your own wisdom and you need to realize that you do not have enough and you do not know enough. The third thought is found in James 1:5 where the Bible says that if any man lacks wisdom let him ask of God who gives to all men. God will answer your prayer if you will learn to ask him.
The first thought will be to recognize that there is a God. The second will be to willingly step aside from your own wisdom. The third will be to ask God for wisdom. As you ask God for wisdom, you will need to start listening to God through His word. I challenge each of you to spend time every day reading the greatest laws ever written. Do you realize the Bible I hold in my hand is a divinely inspired book? It shows the power of our God! The Bible has wisdom that you need. First, you ought to ask God. As you ask Him, you should listen to Him through the Word He has written to give you wisdom. Then, you should learn to listen to other people that God may use to speak to you.
Again the Bible says to you today that wisdom is the “principal thing.” Therefore get wisdom and with all thy getting get understanding. I challenge you this morning to realize that you are in desperate need of wisdom to handle this great position God has given you. I challenge you to seek wisdom with everything in you—to realize that it is God’s wisdom that will give you the ability to make the right decisions. I challenge you to seek wisdom and seek God as Thomas Jefferson did when he said, “I shall need, too, the favor of that Being in whose hands we are, who led our fathers, as Israel of old, from their native land and planted them in a country flowing with all the necessaries and comforts of life; who has covered our infancy with His providence and our riper years with His wisdom and power, and to whose goodness I ask you to join in supplications with me that He will so enlighten the minds of your servants, guide their councils, and prosper their measures that whatsoever they do shall result in your good, and shall secure to you the peace, friendship, and approbation of all nations.”
“I know when apostolic passion has died in my heart. It happens when I don’t spend my quiet time dreaming of the time when Jesus will be worshiped in languages that aren’t yet heard in heaven. I know it’s missing from my life when I sing about heaven, but live as if earth is my home. Apostolic passion is dead in my heart when I dream more about sports, toys, places to go and people to see, than I do about the nations worshiping Jesus.” Floyd Mclung, Perspectives on the World Christian Movement (William Carey Library, 1999)
Go ahead and mark your calendar and make plans now to be with us this Sunday, January 28th, from 1:30 until 4:30 for a meeting and training session of the World Evangelism Committee. Everyone is welcome to attend if you are a member or not. We are still in the process of training and preparing for the great work that God has for us to do.
After church we will each get something to eat and then get started. We will be covering things that you will enjoy learning that will help you to be able to do your part to get the gospel to the world. God’s plan is that the local church be the sending agency for missionaries. We should know what is going on so that we can pray for the world and so that we can help our missionaries in the ministry that God has called them to do.
Don’t miss this opportunity to take part in the most important ministry that our church has.
We had a wonderful men’s fellowship on Saturday with about 20 in attendance. We had a good time discussing the book “Man in the Mirror!” Next month we will meet again and I challenge you to have read the next two chapter–3 and 4. That will help you think about it before you come and be better able to discuss the material.
God gave us a good day today also in the church. We had 87 in Sunday School, 121 in the AM service and then 78 in the evening service. God moved in each service and we are very grateful to Him for all that He is doing. I hope you will decide now to be in the services this coming week. God is doing great things.
This coming Sunday the 28th of January we will be dedicating the new building that God has given us. Things are coming along fine and I thank God for the beautiful place that He has given us to serve and worship Him until He gives us our permanent place. Next Sunday, Lord willing, we will be baptizing several in our new baptistry in our building. These people will be the first to be baptized in our very own baptistry and our building.
If you have not been baptized and you need to follow the Lord in this step of obedience please be sure and talk to someone at the church office so that we can prepare you and everything for this very important step in your life.
Be sure and invite someone to be with you next Sunday and get to enjoy all the blessings of our new facilities. I want you to know just how much I love and appreciate everyone of you. Keep on serving the great God of Heaven.
I want to start out by wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year full of blessings from our great God. This month has been full of blessings, since this month we were able to rent a building for our church, after a year and three months of prayer and searching for a building. We were finally able to find a place this month almost as a Christmas gift. The excitement of our church people was so great that in our first service the majority of the people were crying over the precious gift the Lord has given us. Maybe you can’t understand what we have gone through, but in all the time that we did not have a building, we went through trials, discouragements, etc. But we all learned great lessons such as God’s provision, He has always provided a place where we could meet, we also learned that He knows the right time and He will gives us His best if we wait in Him. I want to thank the Lord for having provided the money by using pastor Austin Gardner and Vision Baptist Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, giving us a love offering to help cover the costs and the deposit that was required of us. We have started a new year, with a great blessing, we want to take advantage of this year to the fullest, we have committed ourselves to the Lord that we will give all of ourselves to do more for our great God, the whole church is willing to evangelize more and to disciple. We want the Lord to keep pouring out blessings and also see the great power of God moving in the midst of us, seeing people saved, transformed and committed. We want to see young people surrendering their lives to be a servant of the Lord. You are a part of all of this; thank you for your offerings and your prayers, every one of them has sustained us and God will reward you until your cup is running over. Lets keep going forward in this new year, willing to keep loving and serving him. We have a long way to go and there are still great things that God wants to do among us. Pray for us as we pray for you for the edifying of the body of Christ. Sincerely, Julio Marquina and family
I want to challenge you to make plans now to be with us for this very special Sunday as we dedicate the new 15,000 square foot building that God has given us to use to worship and serve Him! It is going to be an excited and blessed day as we thank God.
God has given us a great auditorium, a great Spanish auditorium, classrooms, children’s church, etc. If you have not been with us then you need to be here for this great Sunday and bring a friend.
We will also be baptizing in our new baptistry for the first time on this Sunday. At 11:30 we will have the Spanish church come in and then several will be baptized. It is going to be a great day and I look forward to seeing you there.
No one is born an atheist. People choose to become atheists as much as they choose to become Christians. And no matter how strenuously some may try to deny it, atheism is a belief system. It requires faith that God does not exist.
When dialoguing with atheists, it is helpful to point out the logical problems inherent in their belief system. If you succeed in showing an atheist the natural outcome of some of his (or her) main claims and arguments, you are in a much better position to share the gospel with him. Let us consider two prime examples here.
(1) “There is no God.” Some atheists categorically state that there is no God, and all atheists, by definition, believe it. And yet, this assertion is logically indefensible. A person would have to be omniscient and omnipresent to be able to say from his own pool of knowledge that there is no God. Only someone who is capable of being in all places at the same time–with a perfect knowledge of all that is in the universe–can make such a statement based on the facts. To put it another way, a person would have to be God in order to say there is no God.
This point can be forcefully emphasized by asking the atheist if he has ever visited the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. Mention that the library presently contains over 70 million items (books, magazines, journals, etc.). Also point out that hundreds of thousands of these were written by scholars and specialists in the various academic fields. Then ask the following question: “What percentage of the collective knowledge recorded in the volumes in this library would you say are within your own pool of knowledge and experience?” The atheist will likely respond, “I don’t know. I guess a fraction of one percent.” You can then ask: “Do you think it is logically possible that God may exist in the 99.9 percent that is outside your pool of knowledge and experience?” Even if the atheist refuses to admit the possibility, you have made your point and he knows it.
(2) “I don’t believe in God because there is so much evil in the world.” Many atheists consider the problem of evil an airtight proof that God does not exist. They often say something like: “I know there is no God because if He existed, He never would have let Hitler murder six million Jews.”
A good approach to an argument like this is to say something to this effect: “Since you brought up this issue, the burden lies on you to prove that evil actually exists in the world. So let me ask you: by what criteria do you judge some things to be evil and other things not to be evil? By what process do you distinguish evil from good?” The atheist may hedge and say: “I just know that some things are evil. It’s obvious.” Don’t accept such an evasive answer. Insist that he tell you how he knows that some things are evil. He must be forced to face the illogical foundation of his belief system.
After he struggles with this a few moments, point out to him that it is impossible to distinguish evil from good unless one has an infinite reference point which is absolutely good. Otherwise one is like a boat at sea on a cloudy night without a compass (i.e., there would be no way to distinguish north from south without the absolute reference point of the compass needle).
The infinite reference point for distinguishing good from evil can only be found in the person of God, for God alone can exhaust the definition of “absolutely good.” If God does not exist, then there are no moral absolutes by which one has the right to judge something (or someone) as being evil. More specifically, if God does not exist, there is no ultimate basis to judge the crimes of Hitler. Seen in this light, the reality of evil actually requires the existence of God, rather than disproving it.
At this point, the atheist may raise the objection that if God does in fact exist, then why hasn’t He dealt with the problem of evil in the world. You can disarm this objection by pointing out that God is dealing with the problem of evil, but in a progressive way. The false assumption on the part of the atheist is that God’s only choice is to deal with evil all at once in a single act. God, however, is dealing with the problem of evil throughout all human history. One day in the future, Christ will return, strip power away from the wicked, and hold all men and women accountable for the things they did during their time on earth. Justice will ultimately prevail. Those who enter eternity without having trusted in Christ for salvation will understand just how effectively God has dealt with the problem of evil.
If the atheist responds that it shouldn’t take all of human history for an omnipotent God to solve the problem of evil, you might respond by saying: “Ok. Let’s do it your way. Hypothetically speaking, let’s say that at this very moment, God declared that all evil in the world will now simply cease to exist. Every human being on the planet–present company included–would simply vanish into oblivion. Would this solution be preferable to you?”
The atheist may argue that a better solution must surely be available. He may even suggest that God could have created man in such a way that man would never sin, thus avoiding evil altogether. This idea can be countered by pointing out that such a scenario would mean that man is no longer man. He would no longer have the capacity to make choices. This scenario would require that God create robots who act only in programmed ways.
If the atheist persists and says there must be a better solution to the problem of evil, suggest a simple test. Give him about five minutes to formulate a solution to the problem of evil that (1) does not destroy human freedom, or (2) cause God to violate His nature (e.g., His attributes of absolute holiness, justice, and mercy) in some way. After five minutes, ask him what he came up with. Don’t expect much of an answer.
Your goal, of course, is not simply to tear down the atheist’s belief system. After demonstrating some of the logical impossibilities of his claims, share with him some of the logical evidence for redemption in Jesus Christ, and the infinite benefits that it brings. Perhaps through your witness and prayers his faith in atheism will be overturned by a newfound faith in Christ.
