“Our God of Grace often gives us a second chance, but there is no second chance to harvest a ripe crop.” – Kurt von Schleicher
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Brian and Family Head in New Direction
Yesterday morning, Brian Willis announced his resignation as Minister of Music from Immanuel Southern Baptist Church. Brian and Kelly have been offered the ministry opportunity to be house parents at the Oklahoma Baptist Homes for Childrenin Owasso, OK. The resignation is effective November 11.
Let’s all be in prayer for the Willis family as they transition into this new lifestyle ministry that will effect the lives of so many children.
God bless you, Brian, Kelly, Bo, Autumn, and Preston!
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Bits and Bytes
Here are some “sound bites” from yesterday morning’s sermon, “Spiritual Scrutiny”:
- Just because someone says they speak for God, or come from God, doesn’t actually mean they do.
- There are a lot of liars out there who want to deceive you.
- You must be able to “test the spirits” to know if they are from God.
- Test to see if there is false teaching
- Test to see what they believe about Jesus
- Use your personal faith as a test
- Even if an angel gives you a new or different gospel, don’t believe them.
- Many who will try to deceive you (e.g. Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses) don’t realize that they are, in fact, deceived themselves.
- Others who have been deceived (e.g. Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus) believe their deception to be absolute Truth.
- You must be grounded in the Word and have a personal relationship and intimate knowledge of who God is, to be able to recognize and refute deception.
You can listen to “Spiritual Scrutiny” here.
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Reformation Day
Today is the 490th anniversary of the day in 1517 when Martin Luther tacked his 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, starting, in effect, the Protestant Movement. The 95 Theses (written in Latin) protested the Catholic Church’s practice of Indulgences, or the selling of forgiveness to sinners for money. Luther realized that there needed to be a reformation from within the church because he knew that Jesus Christ had already paid for the sins upon the cross.
Reformation Day is actually celebrated as a civil holiday in some countries in Europe and is usually mostly recognized by the Lutheran Church in the USA and is celebrated the Sunday before October 31.
The prayer for us is that God would reform our own hearts into something that looks like Jesus. May He make our hearts wholly His. My He help us to realize that Christ’s action on the cross is sufficient and that we don’t have to “earn” our way to Heaven.
For more information on Reformation Day, go to this website.
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Help Needed!
We are scheduling a work day for this coming Saturday to replace burned out florescent bulbs in the sanctuary, repair some furnaces, and some additional work on the parsonage.
All who are able to help out would be appreciated.
We will be replacing the burned out bulbs in the sanctuary chandeliers the following Saturday. We will need a couple of men to help then as well.
(I guess this is when we’ll find out “how many Baptists it DOES take to change a light bulb”, huh?)
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Mission Quote of the Week
“Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell; I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard of hell.” – C.T. Studd
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Thank you!
Dear Church Family,
Thank you so much for your expression of appreciation Sunday evening after church! It was a complete surprise! I so much appreciate all the effort that went into decorating the fellowship hall, getting the beautiful cake, and the presents as well. I certainly feel appreciated!
I am so much enjoying being your pastor and am simply giddy as a school child to see what God has in store for our church.
May God bless you as we grow together!
Bro Rick
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Bits and Bytes
Here are some “sound bites” from yesterday’s sermon, “A Clear Conscience”:
- Your conscience can be your guide only if your heart is right with God.
- Our conscience informs us of our sin.
- If unrepentant, our conscience reminds us of our sin.
- When our conscience is clear, we feel at ease in the presence of God.
- Jeremiah 17:9 says that our “heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick.”
- Don’t neglect your conscience; if your conscience condemns the action, most likely God does, too.
- Don’t let someone else do your thinking for you.
- Proverb 16:2 says, “All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, but the Lord weighs the motives.”
- Your conscience is like the “engine light” of the soul; when it lights up, you need to check and see what is wrong.
The only way to have a clear conscience is to have a right relationship with God and with your fellow man. If you have never given your heart to Jesus, you don’t know what a truly clear conscience feels like. No matter what you have done in the past, it can be forgiven and you can start over. That is called being “born again”. It is a fresh start.
If you would like to listen to or download the sermon, “A Clear Conscience”, you can do so here.
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Lottie Moon Offering Begins!
Wednesday night, I announced that we have decided to begin collecting our Lottie Moon Offering for International Missions! The national goal is $165,000,000.00, the Oklahoma goal is $5,500,000.00 and our church’s goal is $750.00. I think last Sunday night I announced that we would have a “Hallelujah Goal” of $1000.00.
I will write more about Lottie Moon, the offering, and your part in International Missions in the weeks to come.
Bro Rick
Immanuel Southern Baptist Church 