The following comes from John Pearson and his blog but I wanted to make sure that all of you read it! It is a wonderful answer to prayer.
I have been a church treasurer for 25 years and have had a mountain of neat experiences. Today was one of those.
We all beleive that God will supply things for His church and His work and we trust Him to do it. Then there are those days when real checks and real money have to be there to pay real church bills. Today was one of those days when real checks were being written and while I was long on faith we were short on money. The minute I realized we were short I started thinking of ways to re-arrange bills or some other creative way of handling the problem. At that same moment, a lady showed up at the door of the church with, you guessed it, just enough to cover the bills. Well glory! Had to share that one.
Hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good? Numbers 23:19
Well our theme for this year is “Consider!” What is it that God wants to do in your life. Brother Tony Howeth preaches a message on this subject. In this message he asks the following questions that you need to consider as we start this year.
If not you then who!
If not now then When!
If not here then Where!
What does God want to do with you this year? What will you do different as you seek to serve Him.
A good start would be for you to mark of January 13-17 for our Revival Meetings with Lou Rossi. I hope you will come and I hope you will tell others about it.
Great things that God did this year in our family and in our church listed below. Maybe you can think of some others to add to the list.
*First ever couple’s retreat for Vision Baptist
*Starting Master Clubs for our children’s ministry
*A great Celebration Sunday as we celebrated our first year anniversary
*Our first ever Vacation Bible School was a great success
*Great BCWE leadership camp in June–God used it greatly and we had a blast
*Great Christmas program when the children and teens did their Cantata
*Our music has just gotten better and better all year long to the point that many people are very impressed about how God is blessing and using our musicians
*We have watched our adults grow spiritually and God doing a great work in their lives
*Financially each month our people have stepped up and done more and more and we are really getting where we are keeping up–Praise the Lord–He is so good to us!
*David Velke was our first new member in 2007
*David Clapp, Sam Paxin and Gertrudes Sanabria were the last to join the church in 2007–who will be the first in 2008
*Blessing services to send our missionaries off to the mission field, Aaron, Jacob Taube, and Tyler Masters
*Moving into our current facilities at the first of the year!
*Licensing seven young men to preach the gospel
*Christmas on the Northside was a booming success–30 visitors, 180 by the end of the evening
*People being saved, baptized and joining our church–you will learn more about this on January 20th in the evening service as we have our vision service
*Julio Soncco, our son in law was mightily blessed with a pace maker that there was no way he could have afforded to buy!
*Our church coming together as a team and family to do the work that God has called us to do
*Having the joint services with all the Spanish and the English churches together–the best was probably last Sunday morning
*Wonderful Summit this year–maybe the best ever
Hard or bad things that God allowed to happen in our family and church this year
*Losing several members and attenders as they moved out of state or on to new churches.–Kitty and Karla Stephens moved back to Wisconsin, Larry and Chae Hess returned to California, Julio and Pablo Robles leaving to return to Colombia, Hugo Navarette returning to Peru,
*My red tailed black shark being killed in the aquarium in my office
*being the sound system jerk
*Loosing the Pie Baking contest to Hugh Watson and John Pearson
Get this on your calendar! Invite every body you know to come and be with us as Evangelist Lou Rossi comes to preach a revival at Vision Baptist Church January 13-17.
I know that you will enjoy having him with us here to preach. Invite everyone you know and be praying that God will really work during this week
Last night we had the privilege of having Stephen and April Baker with us in the services at Vision Baptist Church. Stephen and April left today at about noon! They will be taking over the work that Martin Wickens pastors in Northern Ireland for the next 4 months.
We were privileged to pray for them as a church and to let them know that we wanted to be more than just a regular supporting church. April was a founding member of our church. She has been very special to us and I also had the privilege of taking part in Stephen Baker’s ordination at Whitfield Baptist Church just a couple of weeks ago.
I want to remind you to be praying for them as they are there working.
Well as you know we are in the process of trying to get every family to take time today to read their Bibles and have devotions as a family. Did you or are you about to read the Bible with your family.
Again here are some last minute instructions on how to go about reading your Bible with the family today–hopefully!
1. Keep it short and sweet! You really only need about 5 minutes
2. Get everyone to sit down, read the Bible passage and share a short word about it. You will find ideas of what to say and how to say it in the devotional guide you were given on Sunday.
3. Have a word of prayer with the family.
If you will follow these very short and simple steps you will have taken the first steps towards getting a very important habit started in your family. Your church, Vision, really cares about your family and your walk with the Lord. We will be here to help if you need more instruction.
Lord willing, Thursday evening we will give you some more instruction on how to have your family devotions.
That was the name of the message this morning and here is a quote that just came though on a blog that I thought was very fitting:
So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. (Psalm 90:12)
A few days after these words appear in print the old year of our Lord will have gone to join the long procession of years and centuries that move on into the shadows of a past that can come no more.
In the year just gone the world has been writing history, not with ink only but with blood and tears; not in the quiet of the study but in violence, terror and death in city streets and along the borders of nations; and other and milder but more significant history has been written by incredible feats of power in sending man-made objects out to circle the moon and the sun….
To each one fortunate enough to live out [this year], God will have given 365 days broken into 8,760 hours. Of these hours, 2,920 will have been spent in sleep, and about the same number at work. An equal number has been given us to spend in reverent preparation for the moment when days and years shall cease and time shall be no more. What prayer could be more spiritually appropriate than that of Moses, the man of God: “Teach us to number our d-ays aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). WOS145-147
“So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Amen”
(A.W. Tozer, Tozer on Christian Leadership, December 30)
Any appeal to the public in the name of Christ that rises no higher than an invitation to tranquillity must be recognized as mere humanism with a few words of Jesus thrown in to make it appear Christian….
Christ calls men to carry a cross; we call them to have fun in His name. He calls them to forsake the world; we assure them that if they but accept Jesus the world is their oyster. He calls them to suffer; we call them to enjoy all the bourgeois comforts modern civilization affords. He calls them to self-abnegation and death; we call them to spread themselves like green bay trees or perchance even to become stars in a pitiful fifth-rate religious zodiac. He calls them to holiness; we call them to a cheap and tawdry happiness that would have been rejected with scorn by the least of the Stoic philosophers….
We can afford to suffer now; we’ll have a long eternity to enjoy ourselves. And our enjoyment will be valid and pure, for it will come in the right way at the right time. BAM141-142
“Lord, may I be faithful to call people to that which is important to You, at whatever cost. Amen.”
(A.W. Tozer, Tozer on Christian Leadership, December 27)
