Congratulations to the Progress Voice, our Bible quiz team made up of six young people from the church family. Saturday, August 20 marked the beginning of the 2011-2012 quiz year in the Piedmont Quizzing Association, and quizzers from four states competed. This month’s quiz covered John chapters 1-4, and the team did a great job, winning both of their quizzes. In the first quiz, a team bonus was awarded because five different team members had answered correctly. It is always exciting to see the entire group working toward a common goal!
Our goal and prayer in the quiz program is the the Holy Spirit will guide these young people, and that they will submit to the eternal truth they are hiding in their heart. It is possible to participate in Bible quiz for purely academic reasons, but our prayer as a church family is that these young people will use these verses as an anchor for their soul.
God bless you, young people! We’re thankful for your hard work and great testimony today!
For several months at Progress Baptist we’ve been studying the spiritual gifts outlined in Romans 12. For the first several weeks, we studied the foundation needed to properly exercise our spiritual gifts. We then moved on to the framework necessary to give structure and guidance for the most effective use of those gifts. A few weeks ago, we actually began studying the individual gifts and their use in edifying the Body of Christ, the Church, as well as in the spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ.
While studying the gift of teaching (Romans 12:7), I was once again reminded, but in a more powerful way than ever before, of the responsibility of responding properly to the teaching of the Word of God. Praise God for those who have the gift of teaching and use it well. But what responsibility do we have as hearers?
The answer is clear. When it is plain to see that the teacher/preacher of God’s Word has rightly divided the Scripture, we must obey! Certainly, we have a responsibility to search the Scriptures ourselves, not with a critical spirit, but with a heart’s desire to see if these things are so. (Acts 17:11) As hearers, our clearest command, however, as described in James 1:22-25, is to be doers of the Word. There is a great amount of good, solid, Bible preaching and teaching in our day. There is not, however, an equal proportion of obedience.
It is interesting to note that the same chapter in Acts (17) that commends the believers at Berea for searching the Scriptures daily also describes the three primary responses you will see any time the Word of God is declared. In verses 32 – 34, we see that some mocked, while others waited to make a decision (remember – slow obedience is disobedience!), and finally there were those who believed and cleaved to the Word and to those who had taught them.
Each time you have the privilege of receiving the Word, be sure to respond properly. Only in the past few hundred years have we had such free access to the Scripture. By failing to respond properly to His revelation of Himself, we can limit the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, homes, and churches. Luke 12:48 tells us that we will give account for the great truth and teaching we have received. Let’s search our hearts and be sure we are responding properly.
The second weekend in November we will devote our attention to what God’s Word says about the home and family. Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” As our hearts turn towards “home and hearth” during the upcoming holiday season, my prayer is that God will burden our parents and give our fathers a clear vision of what each family could be for Christ.
On Friday night, November 11, Pastor Farrell Shepherd, from North Wilkesboro, NC, and his family will be with us in a service that will begin at 7:00 P.M. Brother Shepherd and his sons have a quartet, and the boys also sing in a mixed group with one of their cousins. You will be blessed by their music! Brother Shepherd is also passionate about God’s plan for the Christian home. He preaches God’s truth in a clear, powerful, easy-to-understand manner. He is also a truly humble, Christ-like man, who proves with his life and ministry that he realizes, “Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it.” Come praying and expecting God to give you more light to walk in!
On Saturday evening, we will enjoy a covered-dish dinner at the church at 5:30 P.M. Afterwards, we will move into the sanctuary for a good time of fellowship, music, testimonies, and a devotion from God’s Word. Bro. Gil Bates and family from Lake City, TN, we will be with us for the Saturday evening fellowship.
Then, on Sunday, November 13, we will begin our day with the 10:00 A.M. Sunday School hour. Brother Gil will be teaching a men’s class, and Sister Kelly will be teaching the ladies. Brother Gil will preach in the 11:00 hour, and throughout the weekend, we’ll enjoy special music from the family as well. After the morning service, we will enjoy a meal together (provided! Take the day off ladies!), and then have an afternoon service beginning around 2:00 P.M. Bro. Larry Raynes, member of Progress Baptist and faithful man of God for over 40 years, will close out this special weekend for our church.
The Bible has a lot to say about, “preparing our heart.” Please read, pray, and meditate on what God’s Word says to fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, and children in preparation for this special weekend. As we soften our hearts with the water of the Word of God, we will be far more likely to receive and retain the instruction we will receive during these days.
Proverbs 7 gives a clear description of the “strange woman,” and has been preached and taught for generations to warn men and women alike of her dangers. Surely in the sensual day we live in, our ladies need to be reminded to avoid any characteristic that would identify them with this wicked woman, and our men must be warned to stay away from this woman whose house is, “the way to hell.”
Sadly, though, the key to the chapter is likely found in verses 19 and 20. “For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey; he hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed.” Could this “absentee husband” be the root cause of this woman’s wandering heart? I believe it is! He hasn’t had to go away to find work in order to provide for his family; he left with a bag of money. He has very likely made the mistake many men have made. That is, once he won the heart of this lady and married her, he then allowed his heart to move on to other conquests. There is apparently an adventurous, untamed spirit inside of “Mr. Goodman!” She very possibly possessed this same, wild-at-heart, free-spirited type of personality. Maybe that is what initially attracted them to each other. Now, it seems he wants to continue living this adventurous life while she stays at home; prim, proper, and domesticated!
I Peter 3:7 instructs husbands to dwell with their wives, “according to knowledge.” The goodman of the house in Proverbs chapter 7 did NOT do this! While she is (as we all are) responsible for her reprehensible behavior, there is more to this story than meets the eye in a brief reading of the chapter. May God help us as men to love our wife as Christ loved the church. Let’s learn them, and dwell with them, “according to knowledge.” The Christian home is under constant Satanic attack, and we have to vigilant with the “Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God,” if we are going to withstand in this evil day.
We only need to read the first few verses of Philippians chapter 1 to realize that the Apostle Paul had a special relationship with this church. Phrases like, “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,” “making request with joy,” and “your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now,” are reserved for this body of believers.
In chapter 2 we find this man of God with a pastor’s heart provoking and challenging the church to become everything God would have them to be. In much the same way, a parent, coach, or teacher will often work a little longer, even be tougher at times, with that child or student in whom he sees exceptional ability and potential. As spiritual teachers, our heart is thrilled when we see others reach beyond what they are currently doing for God. Likewise, our hearts our burdened, at times broken, when we see people fall short of what God wants to, and CAN do with their life. In chapter 2 of Philippians, we will look at four important areas in which God and His man wanted this church to excel.
First is the vital area of unity.Verse 2 uses these expressions, like-minded, one accord, and one mind. Surely these attributes are as important now as they were then! The world mocks and laughs at the division among churches and between churches. They see fighting, turmoil, and division in the life they are living in sin and in the world. They do not need to see the same thing at the house of God. They key to having this vital component of a truly Godly church is found in the next, much-needed character trait.
Humility is the oil that will make everything run smoothly around the house of God! Look at our Supreme Example in verse seven, “no reputation,” “form of a servant,” and “made in the likeness of men.” What a difference we would see in our homes and churches if every member would strive to have the mind of Christ in this life-changing area of humility. Imagine a church where the members are truly striving to serve one another. Think about the Christ-like spirit in a church where the pastor truly sees himself as a minister, or as defined in Scripture, a waiter. (Matthew 20:26)
The third component of a thriving local body of believers is charity. Vastly different from our modern idea of pity, Biblical charity is simply love in action. In other words, when the first two elements are found in the local body, a natural outgrowth will be brotherly love that has feet! In other words we do not love in “word and tongue” but rather, “deed and truth” as described in I John 3:18. This is the kind of love that “worketh no ill to his neighbor” and “thinketh no evil” in I Corinthians 13. Impossible? Absolutely not! What is required is for each member of the body to walk in the Spirit and allow God’s love to work in him and through him.
Next is the much-needed area of purity. In verse 15 Paul uses these words/phrases to describe his heart’s desire for the church: blameless, harmless, without rebuke, and shine as lights; all synonyms for a pure, clean testimony in a wicked and gainsaying world. Sadly, preaching and teaching on separation from the world is typically labeled legalism. A growing, deepening, maturing walk with God, however, will and MUST allow us to see harm and danger in things that would not have bothered us in the past. Peter wrote that we were ignorant when we walked in these former lusts. (I Peter 1:14) This is not legalism, but it is growing in grace, and becoming more like Christ. In the evil day we live in, it is not time for Bible-believers to become slothful in this area of purity. We are “the bride of Christ,” and we should strive to walk worthy of the Lord.
The final result of unity, humility, charity, and purity, will be the equally-important component of vitality. Many churches today are weak and anemic. The singing is lifeless, there is little/no worship, and you are left wondering if the preacher even wanted to be there. There should life, joy, and energy in a Bible-preaching, Christ-honoring New Testament Church! Members who are truly living for the Lord and fighting the devil all week should be thrilled about coming together with their church family to worship Jesus and get re-loaded to fight the enemy for another week. Paul said in verse 12 of chapter 2, “work out your own salvation”, and in verse 16, “holding forth the Word of Life.” Both of these ideas carry with them the idea of vim, vigor, and vitality!
In these last days the seeker-sensitive movement has confused many so-called Bible believers as to the real purpose of the church. We need only to read the “Owner’s Manual” to see what God’s purpose is for the church of Jesus Christ. Thankfully, it is a job we cannot do. But when we realize we cannot, we learn that only He can. Then when we allow Him to work through us, He alone receives the glory. God’s purpose for the church at Philippi 2,000 years ago is STILL His purpose for the local church today. Let’s return to His blueprint and rely on Him for His power to get it done!
While history revisionists refuse to believe that our country was founded on Christian principles, or that many of our founding fathers professed a sincere faith in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ on the cross, the facts prove otherwise.
Below are several quotes taken from Wall Builders (David Barton) that will deepen your appreciation and respect for the men whom God used to lay the foundation for this great country. May God raise up another generation who will lead our country back to the God of our fathers.
Samuel Adams
Father of the American Revolution, Signer of the Declaration of Independence
I . . . recommend my Soul to that Almighty Being who gave it, and my body I commit to the dust, relying upon the merits of Jesus Christ for a pardon of all my sins.
Will of Samuel Adams
John Dickinson
Signer of the Constitution
Rendering thanks to my Creator for my existence and station among His works, for my birth in a country enlightened by the Gospel and enjoying freedom, and for all His other kindnesses, to Him I resign myself, humbly confiding in His goodness and in His mercy through Jesus Christ for the events of eternity.
Will of John Dickinson
Patrick Henry
Governor of Virginia, Patriot
This is all the inheritance I can give to my dear family. The religion of Christ can give them one which will make them rich indeed.
Will of Patrick Henry
John Langdon
Signer of the Constitution
In the name of God, Amen. I, John Langdon, . . . considering the uncertainty of life and that it is appointed unto all men once to die [Hebrews 9:27], do make, ordain and publish this my last will and testament in manner following, that is to say-First: I commend my soul to the infinite mercies of God in Christ Jesus, the beloved Son of the Father, who died and rose again that He might be the Lord of the dead and of the living . . . professing to believe and hope in the joyful Scripture doctrine of a resurrection to eternal life . . .
Will of John Langdon
Robert Treat Paine
Signer of the Declaration of Independence
I desire to bless and praise the name of God most high for appointing me my birth in a land of Gospel Light where the glorious tidings of a Savior and of pardon and salvation through Him have been continually sounding in mine ears.
Robert Treat Paine, The Papers of Robert Treat Paine, Stephen Riley and Edward Hanson, editors (Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1992), Vol. I, p. 48, March/April, 1749.
Rufus Putnam
Revolutionary War General, First Surveyor General of the United States
[F]irst, I give my soul to a holy, sovereign God Who gave it in humble hope of a blessed immortality through the atonement and righteousness of Jesus Christ and the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit. My body I commit to the earth to be buried in a decent Christian manner. I fully believe that this body shall, by the mighty power of God, be raised to life at the last day; ‘for this corruptable (sic) must put on incorruption and this mortal must put on immortality.’ [I Corinthians 15:53]
Will of Rufus Putnam
John Witherspoon
Signer of the Declaration of Independence
I entreat you in the most earnest manner to believe in Jesus Christ, for there is no salvation in any other [Acts 4:12]. . . . [I]f you are not reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, if you are not clothed with the spotless robe of His righteousness, you must forever perish.
John Witherspoon, The Works of John Witherspoon (Edinburgh: J. Ogle, 1815), Vol. V, pp. 276, 278, The Absolute Necessity of Salvation Through Christ, January 2, 1758.
II Chronicles 31: 20, 21 “And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah and wrought that which was good and right and truth before the LORD his God. And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, and in the law, and in the commandments to seek his God, he did it with all his heart and prospered.”
Our salvation cost God His ONLY begotten Son, and our Redeemer shed His very life’s blood to save our souls. Yet, as His followers our service and love for Him is often halfhearted at best. Why? Certainly, we are not bound by the law, and we don’t have to work to be saved or to keep ourselves saved. But shouldn’t His sacrificial love for us motivate us to serve Him with fervency and passion?
Paul said, “For the love of Christ constraineth us..that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again” in II Corinthians 5:14, 15. Most likely, the reason for our half-hearted love for God is due to selfishness, or as Paul wrote, we our living unto ourselves. Jesus prayed, “Not my will” in His darkest hour. Not until we are ready to relinquish our will and our “rights” will we be passionate about Jesus and others.
In a day when even ministry is marked by extreme selfishness and self promotion, may God help us serve God “in all humility of mind” (Acts 20:19) and as Hezekiah, “with all (our) heart!”
Imagine how many problems could be avoided if we would follow God’s simple instruction, “Study to be quiet, and to do your own business.” Most folks are not involved in anything meaningful enough to occupy their thoughts and energy, and that’s why they spend their time worrying about what others are doing. And while the internet has the potential to be an incredible tool for good, it has also enabled lazy busybodies to spend hours on end minding other people’s business. How sad! Our generation is going to hell; there are lonely folks (many still unsaved) in nursing homes, teen-agers walking the streets wondering if anyone cares, and literally millions of folks in our country struggling with every possible type of addiction. We hold the truth in our hands and shout about our preserved English Bible (thank God for it!). But, sadly we do very little with that truth. We spend more time worrying about someone else in the church who isn’t doing enough for the Lord in our opinion, or we focus our attention on the church down the road and what we think they ought to be doing. How much better would it be to use our time strengthening our own family, provoking the fellow members of our church family to love and good works, and doing our part to share the good news of the gospel with at least one of the segments of our society dying without hope.
The Proverbs writer said, “In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin, but he that refraineth his lips is wise.” If we are using our words to encourage a brother in Christ or to tell a sinner about Jesus, we can be confident we won’t be sinning with our lips. May God give us the wisdom and Spirit-control in our lives to be quiet.
This coming Sunday, June 26, the young people (and any others who would like to come along) will join the Erwin family in their nursing home outreach. Please bring your lunch. After the morning service, everyone can eat together at the church before going to the service.
Nursing home ministries provide a great opportunity to reach out to an often forgotten segment of our society. In addition to ministering to the residents, you often have the privilege of touching the lives of employees, nurses, custodial staff, and family members who are there for a visit. Please pray and ask the Lord to use you this weekend!
What a joy this week the past two weeks to see the excitement on the faces of the Hispanic believers in Lancaster, SC, at Iglesia Bautista El Faro as they brough new co-workers who just arrived in Lancaster. These new co-workers are Ethiopian men who had been in Atlanta, GA, for one year, and their sponsoring organization helped them with the move to South Carolina. God in His providence allowed one of them to be assigned to a new believer who was thrilled at the opportunity to share her newfound faith, language barrier notwithstanding!
Services at “El Faro” have now become bi-lingual, and God is working in hearts and lives. The Hispanic believers are thrilled to see others hear the liberating message of the gospel, and the Ethiopian men are simply taking it all in, much like Nicodemus; “How can a man be born when he is old?”
The power of the gospel is best shared “heart to heart.” It has often been said that we cannot take the gospel to the wrong address, and that is certainly true. Interestingly enough, the first contacts at Iglesia Bautista El Faro were reached through a “cold call.” But let’s be careful not miss those opportunities to reach friends, family, co-workers and neighbors as well!
