Well today God blessed again. We had our best evening service attendance in quite some time. We had 102 in attendance and really what was beautiful was to see our children sing and then the teens. God has blessed us with good children and teens and good workers with each group. We thank God for all of them.
This morning we had 130 in Sunday School and 135 in church. The couples Sunday School class had a wonderful lesson today. It is exciting when we see God move as we are drawn to truths far bigger than anything we could have come up with or imagine. I hope you will get involved in a Sunday School class–it is a wonderful place to learn more about the Word of God.
The book of Acts is a wonderful, powerful, book that God is using to change our lives. I hope that you have enjoyed the first 19 chapters. I love watching God as He built His church and learning what we can expect Him to do in our lives and also what He expected of His people.
It has also been wonderful having our daughter Stephanie and our grandchildren with us for this weekend. They are also missionaries that we support as they help print the Word of God and gospel literature.
Now do not forget this Tuesday night as we begin eating at 6:45 pm. Each family can bring food and we will all eat and share testimonies of how great our God is and how much He has worked in our lives. I love Thanksgiving. I love getting to just let God know how much we love Him and getting to share my gratitude with my brothers and sisters in Christ.
Last thing for tonight–Betty and I will be leaving on Thanksgiving Day to travel to South Africa to be with Kevin and Corli Hall. They are missionaries supported by our church also. I would ask you to be praying for us as we travel and minister in South Africa. I will keep you posted here on the blog about what God is doing there in a great ministry that the Halls have been blessed to have.
Well I woke up several times last night and each time I prayed for you! I want God to work in our lives. I want His power to be shown in our hearts and lives. I desperately need His power and so do you to live holy powerful lives for Him.
My heart’s desire is to have a church full of people that are truly hungry to serve God. I pray that God will do a great work in our lives. I want to see you so excited about His Word that you can not wait to get to church for each service to learn more about the Word of God. I want to see you so excited about what God is doing in your lives that you will share the gospel message with others.
I want to see a church that hungers to please God and not ourselves. We have lots of needs and things that we are looking for but much more important than that is that we would please Him. After all it is not about us but about Him that we should live, study, work and pray.
I hunger for a church where lost people are being saved and the altars are full every Sunday of people who are getting their lives right with God–not just to get help though that is good but more even to dedicate their lives to His purposes and to His pleasure and to serving Him.
I hunger for a church that desires to see the name of the Lord Jesus Christ known all over the world. I want to see God glorified and Jesus Christ magnified and I want us to be part of what God is going to do to bring that to pass.
My heart’s desire is that Vision Baptist Church would be a church full of servants that serve God by reaching out to our community, our country, and our world.
My heart’s desire is that our husbands and wives love each other and that God bless our families not for us but for a testimony for Him. I desire that God bless each of you financially but not for you but more for Him and His kingdom. I desire that He trust us with money to be used for His kingdom.
I know that I am just ranting and raving but during the night several times I woke up and asked Him to forgive me for the way I so often think of myself and my blessings rather than what He would have me do for Him. I was created for His pleasure. I was saved to serve for His pleasure. I want to do just that. It really changes your perspective when you think like that.
Well I love you all more than you will know. You are on my heart during the night hours and all day long. I pray for your families, your blessings, your hurts. I hurt when you hurt. I know that God will meet your needs as you serve Him.
God bless you and I sure hope that though you want see this before church that when you read it after that you will know that you have a pastor that loves you and prays for you all the time.
Dear Friends,
We have heard that Gary and Sarah have been released and are boarding a plane to Miami right now. We praise the Lord for watching over them. Thank you for your prayers and concern.
Though they are not missionaries that we support I do not of them and wanted to give you this update and ask you to pray for them.
This is the email that I just got. If you will pray for them why not make a comment below:
Dear Friends,
We just received news that Gary and Sarah Greenwood, missionaries in Venezuela that we know have been arrested and detained in Venezuela by the government. Sarah is 6 months pregnant and they have two other small children. The govt. officials that are guarding them are not allowing them to speak to a lawyer or to the national pastor that they are working with. Jail time has been mentioned by the arresting officers. The American embassy will get involved tomorrow and hopefully they will be released or deported. Please hold them up in prayer during this difficult and very scary time.
As I read my Bible this morning I came across the following verse. Exo 25:40 And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount. I was reading about how God instructed the people of Israel to build their tabernacle. He gave them detailed instructions. He told them that He wanted everything made like He had the pattern for in the Heavens.
I thought to myself about how many things go on around me that challenge me as to what a church ought to be. Today many churches have changed. They have become more entertainment centers than preaching centers. They have replaced the preaching with singing, testimonies, dramas, videos etc. Though none of these things are wrong they can never replace the preaching of the word of God. God has chosen to use preaching even though He called it the foolishness of preaching.
The next thing that has happened is we have replaced strong, confrontational preaching with a chat that sounds more like Dr Phil than the Word of God. We do not want to offend. We desire to be politically correct. I know that this is not after the pattern of the church in Heaven.
I like much of what I read and see and desire to have the fastest growing and best church that I can but I have to remember that what we do here must please Him and follow the pattern in Heaven. The number of people that we have does not impress God near like our obeying Him.
Church was never supposed to be about meeting our needs but more about obeying and worshiping the great God of Heaven. It was supposed to be about what we could do to serve Him.
Thank you for wanting a church of sold out, on fire, dedicated, Christians that are seeking to please God.
God I want our church to be made after the pattern that I find in the Bible and like you have showed us. I do not want to have a church like those around me. Help me to do things in a way that radically pleases you and affects our world.
Well things have been hopping around here over the last few days. The application forms for the Summit have been coming in rapidly. It is exciting to see how many people are looking forward to this most wonderful time that we spend together. I will begin posting some updates about the preparations for the Summit and what you can expect over the next few days.
I certainly hope that many of our Vision Baptist Church people will be signing up. Many of you have not gone yet but I promise you that if you do go you will be very glad you did.
Also maybe you do not know but we are set up for the entire family. Your children will have a special program just for them. The teens and all ages of adults will be involved in activities and classes just right for everyone.
Lighthouse Baptist Church and Vision are the principal hosts of this very special activity. I will let you know who is speaking and about what over the next few days.
Well this has been one of those memorial days! At lunch time Pastor Derik Lawrence, Chad Gordon, Patrick Henry, and Josh Ayers came to spend some time thinking of what we all can do to better reach the world with the gospel message.
It was a wonderful time of fellowship. I really learned lots from the great things that they are doing at Victory Baptist Church in Loganville.
Then tonight Pastor Lawrence preached. He did a great job. Everyone really enjoyed the message. He has a great of connecting with the people and great truths to challenge and motivate all of us. What a great day!
I look forward to being able to do it again. God has allowed me to meet with several pastors here recently and I am excited about the opportunities.
I am also excited about the Summit coming up in December. We will have special pastor breakout sessions that I believe are going to be a lot of fun and we are going to be able to learn a lot from each other.
Vision Baptist Church, your independent Baptist Church on the Northside, is really excited about all that God is doing.
Thanks to Philip Bassham as always for the tremendous job he has done on the Vision Baptist Church website. I hope you will look at the page and then make a comment here that might encourage Philip for all of his hard work.
Philip you are great and I really appreciate all that you do.
Also if you would like to see the video clips of our pulpit you can click here and watch several of them–mostly pretty short.
John Wesley used to ask his young men whom he had sent out to preach on probation two questions: “Has anyone been converted?” and “Did anyone get mad?”
If the answer was “No,” he told them he did not think the Lord had called them to preach the Gospel, and sent them about their
business. When the Holy Ghost convicts of sin, people are either converted or they don’t like it, and get mad.
This Sunday we are going to have a special day where we celebrate Thanksgiving and to be especially thankful for our neighbors. I want to invite you to make a special attempt to get your neighbors to come and be with us this Sunday. We want to thank God for good neighbors. It is wonderful to live in such a beautiful area as the North Side of Atlanta. I love my neighbors and i know you do so lets invite them to worship with us.
Also get on your calendar that we will be having our Thanksgiving Supper on November 20th at 6:45 pm. Bring some food for your family and some extra for our guests. We will study the Bible, fellowship, give thanks, and have a great evening. I look forward to this very special evening with each of you.
