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Yearly Archives: 2011

Raynes/Stewart Wedding, October 8

The church family is invited to the wedding of Stacy Raynes and William Stewart on Saturday, October 8, 2011, at 2:00 P.M. The wedding and reception will be held at Grace Baptist Church in Liberty, SC. Please keep this young couple in your prayers as they begin their new life together.

On Monday, October 3, the church family is invited to join in the “Heritage Revival” at Swannanoa Heights Baptist in Swannanoa, NC. Pastor Bruce Robinson and the church family are excited about this special week of services. Bro. Doug will be preaching and the family will be providing the special music on Monday night. Come and go with us if at all possible!

Preparing Our Hearts To Seek After God

In October, Lord willing, Progress Baptist Church will enjoy four nights of special services with Bro. Johnny Jones doing the preaching. More than just a series of meetings, it is our prayer that God will move us deeper and higher in our walk with Him. This past Sunday night, the message God gave me for our people was from Ezra regarding the importance of the house of God. In the typical modern-day “church”, the sanctuary has been reduced to little more than a gymnasium or night-club. In the detention center ministry God has brought into my life, more than one inmate has described the atmosphere in area “churches” as reminding them of the clubs they were involved in prior to their incarceration. As God’s children, I believe our heart and attitude toward God’s house is a very clear reflection of our heart for God. I believe that is why the first message God placed on my heart in preparation for our revival services dealt with this very important topic.

Over the next few weeks, it is my desire to read, study, and pray for direction from the Lord in preparing our hearts for what He has in store for us. What a tragedy it would be for God’s man to come with a message and for us to be unprepared to receive it. In my reading, I recently came across an article that I will give excerpts from below. The title is, “Thoughts on Church Renewal” by Jay Wegter and Massimo Lorenzini, and it can be found in its complete form at: frontlinemin.org.

The Need for a Grace Awakening

Without a grace awakening, they (church members) will be unable to give back to God, their pastor, or one another.  They are operating upon reflected glory, similar to those who gazed at Moses’ glowing face after he descended the holy mountain with the law of God (Ex 34:29-35). But they themselves are not in the habit of regularly beholding the glory of Christ in the gospel. They are not daily drawing their spiritual life directly from Christ in personal communion with Him.

 In a grace awakening the congregation will begin to fix their sight on Christ and what He has done for them in redeeming them by grace. As they grow in their personal knowledge of the Son of God by the Spirit of God through the Word of God, they will be eager to follow Christ in discipleship and ministry. They will become team players alongside the pastor rather than being mere spectators sitting on the sidelines watching the ministry of the pastor. They will no longer be content to accept the ministry of their pastor as a substitute for their own ministry within and through the body.

The Lost Spiritual Discipline of Meditation

The majority of church members today have not learned to go to their Savior directly by meditation, worship, and adoration. Lest we forget, meditation is a godly discipline that is resisted by our natural faculties. Our cognitive faculties are dialed into sensual stimuli. As our media-saturated culture becomes more and more visually stimulated by man-made fantasies, it becomes increasingly difficult to tune our hearts into the invisible truths of the gospel. It is work to have the eyes of the heart opened fully wide to behold by faith unseen spiritual certainties. But the labor of meditation is necessary if our souls are to be ravished by the sight of our wealth in the Son of God.

 The eyes of our hearts must be enlightened in order for us to be constrained and animated by God’s love in Christ. In considering the concentration and labor necessary to meditate on the Word of God, an illustration may be helpful. By way of example, consider the fact that 37 tons of metal, crew, fuel, and payload in the shape of a Tomcat fighter jet can only remain airborne at mach 2.0 if multiple physical laws are strictly obeyed. Friction, gravity, and heat all seek to bring the craft back to earth in a jumble of disorder. So also, nature fights against our attempts to meditate upon invisible spiritual realities. The Word, the Spirit, and the mind must all come together in order to gaze continually with the eyes of faith upon invisible spiritual realities. We must individually and collectively as the people of God discipline ourselves to meditate upon the Word of God as a crucial step toward church renewal.

 It takes meditation in order for spiritual truth to come alive so as to renew the mind and transform the life. But teaching biblical meditation will of necessity require detailed, step by step instruction and examples. This is because our media culture is characterized by a mind numbing busy-ness, but paradoxically, also by a mental laziness. Most people slow down by entering a “veg-out” mode of passively watching television. The enemy, however, has virtually complete control over television programming which has become a conduit for postmodern thought (i.e., no absolute truth, moral relativism, erroneous view of tolerance, moral and intellectual autonomy, etc.) Viewers who attempt to “relax, refresh, and recharge” by hours of television are unwittingly imbibing postmodern values in the process of devoting themselves to mindless amusement.

Believers need to be “unplugged” from the deadening effects of postmodern culture. If Christians refuse to stir themselves so as to dedicate their minds to love God’s truth, they will of necessity find themselves conformed to the world (Rom 12:1-2).  They will be unable to mourn and grieve over the sins of this generation. Their zeal for soul-winning will fade into apathy toward the lost as their attention turns to maintaining their personal comfort and entertainment. By contrast, biblical meditation requires mental discipline and concentration, and even self-confrontation. It’s impossible to be passive and meditate on Scripture at the same time.

It is my prayer that over the next several weeks, the the Holy Spirit will guide our church family into a sincere hunger and preparation for true spiritual renewal.

 

“Patriot Day Family Picnic”, Saturday, September 10

UPDATE!

Thanks to the church family for ALL of your hard work! Thanks to all those who came. It was an HONOR to have you stop by and be with us. Some stayed all day, others for part, others could only come by for a little while, but we were glad to meet you.

Praying God will bless and honor the seed of the Gospel that was sown today. “Jesus is still the answer for a world that’s longing for peace!”

 

On Saturday, September 10, 2011, the church family at Progress Baptist will host a “Patriot Day Family Picnic” in honor of those who serve our community and country. We are inviting: law enforcement, firefighters, EMS, and veterans from the greater Hendersonville area. Please join us for this special event for the entire family and allow us to say “thank you” for all you do!

Place: Etowah Park (near the Etowah Elementary School on Etowah School Road)

Time: Activities begin at 10:00 A.M. Lunch will be served at 12:30 P.M., and a patriotic service, lasting approximately one hour, will begin at 1:30 P.M.

There will be games and activites especially for the children twelve and under. We will also have softball, horseshoes, volleyball, and flag football for the young people and adults. And there will also be time to just sit and relax!

There is absolutely no charge for anything! We simply want you to come, enjoy some time with your family, and let us serve you!

Please bring your lawn chairs!

NOTE: For planning purposes, please let us know if you plan on coming. You can write us at: info@progressbaptist.com. RSVP is not required, however! If you find out at the last minute that you can come, we’d LOVE to have you!

 

Keep the Light On

In Philippians 2:15, the Word of God says, “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.”

It is certainly no exaggeration to describe the world we live in today as “crooked and perverse.” Listen to the news at the top and bottom of the hour on your local talk-radio station, and you will be convinced that perversion has somehow become “mainstream.”

What is sadder though, is this fact; God’s children have seemingly decided that the way to rescue folks who are walking in this darkness is to dim the lights and become as much as possible like the dark world in which we live. This defies the truth of God’s Word. In Ephesians 5:8, we find, “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light.” 

It is true that many will reject the light; but not all!  We must continue walking in the light of God’s Word, keeping our lamp trimmed and bright. We are His ambassadors, and as such, we are the only hope of this sin-cursed world. He left us here with a command to preach the gospel and to shed His light into their sin-darkened souls.

As children, many folks learned the song, “This little light of mine; I’m gonna let it shine!” Let’s keep the light on, keep it bright, and let it shine to this world groping in the darkness of sin!

September 3 Outreach – Update!

UPDATE

Thank you, and GOD bless you Progress Baptist Church Family! Praise God for the excellent turnout today!! For the size of our church family, twenty-six folks was a huge blessing to me, and I believe you honored our Lord and Saviour!

Several folks had told me over the past few weeks about work conflicts and travel plans over the Labor Day Weekend. So, I was thrilled to see all of you.

God’s Word speaks about the enemy stealing the seed. Let’s continue to pray that God will protect the seed, and that hearts, lives, and families will be changed by the power of the gospel as a result of the outreach today.

Bro. Doug

 

Mark your calendars! On Saturday, September 3, our goal is to distribute 2,000 evangelistic packets in our county. These packets will include a John/Romans, church tracts, and a postcard listing upcoming events at Progress Baptist.

Please begin praying for God to bless this seed, and make plans to be at the church at 10:00 A.M. on Saturday, September 3, to help sow the seed of the Gospel!

Sunday, September 25 – Nursing Home Service

On Sunday, September 25, immediately following the morning service, young people and any others who would like to go, are invited to join the Erwin family in their weekly nursing home outreach. The residents and staff have enjoyed the special music and kindness of the young folks and children who have been able to go the past few months. God bless you!

September Fellowship – Bridal Shower for Stacy Raynes

On Sunday evening, September 17, we will have our monthly fellowship after the evening service. At the fellowship time, we will also have a shower for Stacy Raynes. She and Will Stewart will be married on October 8, 2011. The September Newsletter has details about the shower, and we look forward to this opportunity to be a blessing to this young couple.

September 17 – Bible Quiz

On Saturday, September 17, the Progress Voice, our Bible quiz team will participate in the September quiz meet for the Piedmont Quizzing Association. Quizzers from four states will meet at Hampton Park Baptist in Greenville, SC, for the competition which will begin at 2:00 P.M.

Week of September 4 Special Events

On Sunday, September 4, we will begin our evening service at 5:00 P.M. Bro. Doug and the church family have been invited by Pastor Mark Alexander to join the White Horse Heights Baptist Church in Greenville, SC, that evening for their annual Pre-Labor Day Jubilee. Bro. Doug will be preaching, and his family will  be singing in that service. There will also be other preaching and singing followed by a good time of food and fellowship. The service at White Horse Heights Baptist will begin at 7:30 P.M.

On Thursday, September 8, Bro. Doug will be preaching and the family will sing at the Broad River Baptist Church Tent Meeting in Rutherfordton, NC, where Bro. Brian Ezell is the pastor. There will be services under the tent each night this week, and the church family is invited to attend. These services will begin at 7:00 P.M.