2009 is officially half way over today. How are you doing on your goals for 2009?
How are you doing on your Bible reading plan?
So far this year are you on schedule in your plan for giving to and supporting the work of God?
How are you doing on your personal plan of managing the resources that God has put in your hands?
What have you done this year to strengthen your relationship with your spouse? Your children?
What have you done this year to grow spiritually?
What have you done to get the gospel to others?
Life is short! It is flying by! If we are not careful we will wake up and find out that we wasted our life! I challenge you to reevaluate what you are doing. Hit the reset button if you need to.
Alex Montero became Vision’s newest member yesterday through believer’s baptism. God dealt with his heart during the Our Generation Leadership Camp. It was a great time. We are excited about all that God is doing in Alex’s life and the future ministry plans God has for him.
Join me in welcoming him into our church family. Let him know how happy you are for the work of God in his life.
After several weeks of intense competition, Philip Bassham won our Vision T-Shirt Design Contest. You can see a picture it on the Welcome Center in the main foyer. We will be taking orders once again this Sunday after the morning service. The cost of the shirt will be $10. We will only order the shirts that have been pre-ordered. The deadline is July 2nd.
My sister-in-law, Krissy, chose to set her life apart for Christ at a young age. As an outflow of her devotion to Him, she made a decision to live faithfully for her future husband; not to give her heart, emotions, or body away in temporary relationships, but to wait for the man God would one day bring into her life. As Krissy entered her twenties, she still had never been in a relationship. Guys had shown interest in her, but Krissy was holding out for a man who’s life was completely centered around Jesus Christ; a man who would not merely appreciate her personality and outward appearance, but would be captivated by the supernatural beauty that flowed from the center of her being.
Though she deeply desired to be married and raise a family, Krissy lived her single years entirely focused on Jesus Christ. No matter where she was, she poured out her life for Him, loving and serving everyone around her. She didn’t put off living until she finally met her future husband – instead, she lived fully and radiantly each and every day, drawing rich fulfillment and joy from her passionate romance with Jesus Christ. She wasn’t obsessed with making herself attractive to the opposite sex. Rather, she was consumed with her Heavenly Prince. The only applause that mattered to her was His.
Krissy was (and is) a physically attractive woman. But she did not possess the kind of pop-culture charm that appeals to most modern men. She didn’t spend her time and energy becoming more alluring to the world or attractive to guys. Instead, she spent her time and energy serving the poor, teaching small children, going to the mission field, and sharing the gospel with hurting people. She was marked by the kind of purity and innocence that today’s men usually scoff at.
As her twenties passed and she embarked upon her thirties, people began to pressure her to try to snag a guy while she still could.
“You should move to a big city where there are more available men,” some suggested. “Why don’t you start trying a little harder to get guys’ attention?” others urged.
It was tempting to listen to these well-meaning words. She wasn’t getting any younger, and she longed for an earthly love story. Most of the godly men she met were already married. What if she never met anyone? What if she never got married?
But the gentle words of her Lord resonated through her soul, “Am I enough?”
As I think of Father’s Day I thought of the great privilege of raising children. I thought of how God allows us to raise children as a way to impact the world with the gospel message. Check out this passage of Scripture:
Psalm 127:3-5 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate.
Let me share with you a few thoughts that I have when I read these verses. I hope it will motivate you to take very seriously what you are doing as parents.
An arrow is a long distance weapon. So our children extend our ministry!
They go the way we send them.
They carry our shaping and training!
People see, feel, and hear our attitudes in our children.
Our children will do what we think is important!
An arrow is an offensive weapon so our children are weapons against Satan and sin!
Arrows are a silent weapon!
The arrow is a penetrating weapon so it will go long and get behind enemy lines!
The arrow symbolizes power and action!
What a blessing to be a dad! Now that God has given such an important gift the question is how are you using your gift? There is no greater gift that we could be given! We are blessed to be dads!
How are you shaping and training your children? Remember it is more caught than taught! What example are you giving them?
How are you preparing them to be used of God?
It is an awesome thing to be a dad but even more it is an awesome responsibility!
Most people have “the root of bitterness” embedded deep in their hearts, and it keeps sprouting up as anger, depression, and defeat. But a Christian can turn that bitterness into godly joy and forgiveness in the following ways:
1. Repent of Temporal Values. You need to repent of the fact that your focus is on things” you have lost (Colossians 3:1-3), instead of on Christ, and eternal things.
2. Resist Ungratefulness. Quit believing that “God owes you” and start thanking God for all that He does for you!
3. View the offender as God’s method of helping you. This is hard. God seeks to make you into a diamond for His treasury. But to make you, He uses both heat and pressure to form you – not destroy you! See Genesis 50:20, and Job 23:10.
4. Thank God for His ultimate purpose in your life! God wants to make you into a son or daughter that He can be proud of – and He does that by allowing you to go through troubles (Hebrews 11:16). Thank Him!
5. Realize the magnitude of difference between your sins against God, and the little offenses that are against you. God has forgiven you of so much – you can do it too (Ephesians 4:32).
6. Remember that God promises to punish the offender (Romans 12:19). Leave the pay-back to Him.
7. Voluntarily “invest” in your offender – do good to them (Romans 12:20,21). That is the basis of our joy and life (Matthew 5:40-48)!
Very few people carry the load in our church that Kristen Pearson carries. She is our church pianist. She spends many hours every week practicing and working with our people to get the music ready.
I never have to worry about her being there. She just carries her load and more. She is a back ground person. You may not pay attention to her because she is playing accompaniment. She helps make everyone be able to do their job.
I personally do not know where we would be without her. Thank you Kristen. I hope you have a very happy birthday today and know that Vision Baptist Church appreciates all you do.
I hope you are planning on being in church on Sunday for Father’s Day. One of the greatest joys of my life is being a dad. As a dad you should be setting an example to your family that that the worship of God and the gathering of His church is super important for you! I look forward to seeing you on Sunday morning early for Sunday School.
One night a father overheard his son pray: Dear God, Make me the kind of man my Daddy is. Later that night, the Father prayed, Dear God, Make me the kind of man my son wants me to be.
“The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.”
Mark Twain
When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.
Charles Wadsworth
By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he’s wrong.
Though most of you will not know him here at Vision. A great servant of the Lord has gone on to Heaven. If the Lord tarries His coming and I reach an old age I would like to go out like him.
J. R. Faulkner was born June 8, 1914, in Charlotte, North Carolina. He trusted the Lord as his personal Saviour on December 3, 1937.
In 1941, he enrolled at Bob Jones College, Cleveland, Tennessee. He graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in Bible in 1946.
In 1943 he married Magdalene Amstutz. The Faulkners have five sons — all graduates of Tennessee Temple University.
Dr. Lee Roberson, founder of Tennessee Temple University writes: “He was first a teacher at T.T.U., later vice president for 22 years; and in 1974 he became president. In the many years of my work, I have found no one to equal Dr. Faulkner in fruitfulness, purity of life, and dedication to the cause of Christ. As a multi-talented man, he performed every task with precision, enthusiasm, zeal, and spiritual power. As a songleader, artist, administrator, preacher or soulwinner, he worked with an unquestioned whole-heartedness. We continue to walk together in the work of our Saviour!!”
Faulkner served as pastor of South Rossville Baptist Church, Rossville, Georgia, from 1945 – 1949, when he accepted the Associate Pastor position at Highland Park Baptist Church, Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Two colleges have honored J. R. Faulkner with honorary degrees. He received an honorary (L.L.D.) from Bob Jones University in 1954; Trinity Baptist College, Jacksonville, Florida, honored him with a (D.D.) in 1993.
J. R. Faulkner retired in 1990, then served as Interim Pastor of Highland Park Baptist Church until 1991.
Dr. J. R. Faulkner 1914 – 2009 Visitation: Sunday, June 14 from 2:00 – 6:00 pm at the Funeral Home Monday, June 15 from 12:00 noon to 2:00 pm Highland Park Baptist Church Funeral Service: Monday June 15, 2:00 pm @ HPBC
