First Baptist Church of Brownsville, Oregon

 (Jeremiah 15:21)

I love that our God is a DELIVERER and a REDEEMER!  But interestingly, this promise from the Lord to Jeremiah came as part of an admonition to repent.  I liked what Paul House says:

“Did Jeremiah want to keep standing with God?  If so, he had to repent.  Happily, Jeremiah did repent.  His willingness to hear God’s Word and change his ways set an example for all God’s servants, including His best, such as Peter (John 21:15-19) and John (1 John 1:9-10).  Daily repentance is part of walking with God.  It provides a bridge from self-service to renewed service of the living God.” (ESV Men’s Devotional Bible)

So let’s walk with our Deliverer and Redeemer in daily repentance!

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 (Leviticus 20:7-8)

Sometimes wading through Leviticus can be challenging, I admit.  But there are also amazing truths that help us understand powerfully the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man, and the efforts God goes to in order to bring His people into restored relationship with Himself.  I like what the Gospel Transformation Bible says about Lev. 20: “Leviticus 18 listed unholy practices the Israelites were to avoid in the realms of sexual immorality and illicit worship.  This chapter now describes the penalties that come from engaging in those practices.  These penalties emphasize the seriousness of sin, the importance of addressing it among the Lord’s people, and the reality of the Lord’s justice for those who persist in it (see Acts 5:1-11; Gal. 6:7).  But Grace is not absent.  The penalties serve as warnings of sin’s consequences and of the pain of distance from fellowship with God.  If God did not love His people, He would not so warn them… The chapter also emphasizes that experiencing these penalties were not the Lord’s intent for humanity.  His desire is that people experience His blessing and good pleasure as they walk in close fellowship with Him in His ways.  It is this same desire that prompts Jesus to call us to take His yoke upon us, learning from Him how to walk in God’s ways, in this way finding rest for our souls (Matt. 11:28-30).”

This Sunday I will be starting a new series — “DAVID: A Man After God’s Own Heart”.  The first message will be from 1 Samuel 16:1-13, “The LORD Looks at the Heart.”  I am excited about what God will show us about our hearts and our relationship with God through this series on David!  I’m even more excited about how the stories of David point us to the ultimate Son of David, our Lord Jesus Christ!  Please read the passage prayerfully in preparation, and join us Sunday at 10:30!  We will also be remebering the Lord’s death together as we partake of communion.  Another good thing to read and meditate on in preparation would be Isaiah 53, which I plan to read from on Sunday.

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“It’s Friday… But Sunday’s a comin’!”  I heard part of a great sermon earlier this week, and that was the often-repeated statement.  What is it about “Good Friday” that makes it “Good”?  As we reflect on our Savior’s bloody and humiliating death for us, we must come to grips with the purpose and the results of His death on the cross.

Some of us are using the same Bible reading plan this year, and the last two days we’ve been reading the first 7 chapters of Leviticus.  A number of different offerings under the old covenant are described, including the sin offering (chs. 4-5).  Listen the the Gospel Transformation Bible note on this passage: “The Bible often uses the metaphor of impurity to describe sin.  It is a metaphor we can identify with: sin often makes us feel dirty (Ps. 51:2).  For the Israelites, their sin defiled both themselves and the Lord’s holy dwelling place in their midst.  Because of His great purity, the Lord could not allow such defilement to remain in His holy camp.  But because of His great mercy, He provided a way for the Israelites to remove this impurity: the sin offering, in which the lifeblood of an animal without blemish ransomed sinners from the Lord’s just punishment and cleansed the defilement of their sin.  The sin offering prefigured for God’s people the mercy we see in a far greater way in Jesus’ sacrificial death.  This was the ultimate sin offering (Rom. 8:3; Heb. 1:3; 13:11-12), and it was great enough to cleanse all our sins (Heb. 9:28; 10:10, 12, 14; 1 John 1:9).  Because of this, we can boldly draw near to God, knowing that because of Jesus’ sacrifice we are fully cleansed of all sin and impurity and therefore fully accepted by the Father (Heb. 10:19-22).”  Amen!  What a great truth.  Jesus has become our sin offering, once and for all!  I’d encourage you to read again Mark 15:21-39 on this Good Friday, and reflect on the subsitutionary suffering of Jesus Christ on our behalf.  Also, consider how significant it is that the curtain in the temple was torn in two, top to bottom.

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 (Isaiah 52:10)

I love this beautiful prophetic promise from Isaiah!  And what struck me this morning was the way in which we are assured that this promise will come to pass.  How?  The answer is in the following chapter – Isaiah 53!  If you didn’t read that today, that would be a great passage to meditate on.  Our hearts absolutely must be filled with gratitude and praise as we contemplate the Suffering Servant, our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Tomorrow I will be continuing our series in Titus with a message on Titus 1:5-9, “Above Reproach.”  This passage contains Paul’s requirements for Titus as he appointed elders/overseers for the churches.  But I believe it is a passage that all believers should study with the goal of growing in the character qualities described there.  In fact, Gene Getz (author, pastor, professor) wrote a very popular book based on this passage (and 1 Tim. 3, also elder qualifications) called

  The idea is that every man in the church should be measuring himself by these standards.

While we are on the subject of elders/overseers, this would be a great time to request continued prayer for us who serve in this capacity at FBC.  It is a challenging and rewarding calling.  Especially continue to pray for Alan Blake’s recovery in speech and motor skills.  Please keep praying for me in my pastoral responsibilities and especially pray for my prayer life and my preaching of God’s Word.  I recognize I desperately need your prayers!  Also please pray for Mike Kirk especially diligently today.  His sister Suzy looks to be passing along from this life soon due to cancer.  His family could use your prayers for comfort and encouragement.

Also thank you for continuing to pray for the Search Task Team as we follow up with various applicants for Associate Pastor of Family Ministry.  There are reference checks going on, various phone calls with applicants, and another skype interview this coming Tuesday.  Please keep praying for God’s perfect will to made clear in this process.

Thank you for your prayers!  Looking forward to our worship and fellowship together tomorrow!

Grace and peace to you!

Love From Your Pastor,

Michael

 (Mark 6:4)

Those of us following the same Bible reading schedule this year started reading the book of Mark this week.  That is one of the reasons we looked at Mark 6 last Sunday, and zeroed in on a few of the key things Jesus said.  The statement in verse 4 struck me again today, and I’m trying to continue to think through it.  But isn’t it amazing that the people who thought they knew Jesus the best, actually were some of the most mistaken about who He really was?  It’s easy for people to have a familiarity with stories about Jesus, but be way off in terms of understanding His true identity.  It’s also easy for people to think they know a lot about Jesus, but for their hearts to be far from Him.  I’m hoping and praying that I, along with my family, will continue to draw close to Jesus, grow in our love for Him and faith in Him, and be used by Him to help others come to an understanding of who He really is.

This Sunday we’ll continue in Mark by looking at the “triumphal entry” in Mark 11:1-11.  It would be good to read that ahead of time and join us as we worship Him with our “Hosanna!” this Sunday!  Do you know what “Hosanna” means?

Don’t forget, men, about our monthly Men’s Breakfast this Saturday at 7am!

Also Saturday, everyone is invited to the all-church work day from 9am to Noon.  There’s plenty of sprucing up to do as we prepare for Easter!

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 (Exodus 34:6-7)

This was a great reminder for me this morning of who God is!  Who better to tell us what God is like than God Himself?  After telling Moses of His covenant name, Yahweh (the LORD, lit., ‘I am who I am’), He describes Himself: Merciful.  Gracious.  Slow to anger.  Abounding in steadfast love (‘

loyal, faithful, covenant-keeping love).  Forgiving iniquity.  By no means clearing the guilty.  He is the ever-existing, gracious, loving, faithful, and just God of Creation!  To quote a recent song, “You’re a good, good Father!”

This Sunday will be our next-to-last message from Paul’s letter to Titus.  We are covering (Lord willing) Titus 3:1-11, “Goodness & Loving Kindness.”  Once again, this is a tremendous passage of Scripture.  I hope you will read it prior to the Sunday worship service and come prepared to ‘have ears to hear’ the Word of the Lord.

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(Exodus 16:4)

It has been a daily occurrence this year that I have come across not only great and powerful truths from God’s Word in my daily reading, but also wonderful thoughts from my devotional Bible that have enhanced, explained, and applied the Scripture reading. Today was no different.  Another lengthy excerpt I feel led to share:

“The spiritual geography of Israel’s exodus from Egypt can be mapped onto the experience of our own souls.  Although there are times of refreshing, usually they do not last for long.  Soon it is time to head back into the desert, which is a place of testing and spiritual growth…

Whining was Israel’s besetting sin… The grumbling continued more or less for 40 years, as they became a nation of malcontents.

Our own complaints are not caused by our outward circumstances; rather, they reveal the inward condition of our hearts.  Really, the Israelites had nothing to complain about.  They were

not running out of food, but were confusing what they wanted with what they needed

.  This is often the source of our discontent: thinking that our ‘greeds’ are really our needs…

Israel’s attitude is a warning against the great sin of complaining.  Although they complained to Moses, they were really grumbling against God.  By saying that it would have been better for God to let them die back in Egypt, they were really saying that they wished they had never been saved.

We need to be honest about the fact that all of our dissatisfaction is discontent with God.  Usually we take out our frustrations on someone else.  But God knows that when we grumble, we are finding fault with Him.  A complaining spirit indicates a problem in our relationship with God.

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 (Matthew 23:11-12)

Once again there were many many things in my reading this morning that were powerful.  I often underline things in my Bible as I read, then go back and try to zero in on one verse or phrase that I really want to focus on for the day.  That’s hard to do many times – to narrow it down from so much good stuff to choose from!  But the above verses were a great reminder to me… again.  I love how Jesus said things that were/are so contrary to how we as people generally think and operate.  The Life Application Bible has a great note on this passage:  “Jesus challenged society’s norms.  To Him, greatness comes from serving – giving of yourself to help God and others.  Service keeps us aware of others’ needs, and it stops us from focusing only on ourselves.  Jesus came as a servant.  What kind of greatness do you seek?”  Great question to ponder!

Please remember to pick up the Prayer Guides for our Haiti missionaries, located on the missions table in the foyer.  Mike Kirk and Dave Ezell plan to leave Feb. 17, and Roger and Susan Ruckert leave March 3.  There are separate letters for each team’s trip.  Let’s be upholding them and the Haiti Foundation of Hope in our prayers.  This Sunday is a finger food luncheon and a time to “send off” those who are going.  Please be sure to join in.

I heard about a movie that I think we should all try to see when it comes out on Feb. 19 (or see it as close to opening day as you can).  It is called “Risen” and it is about the resurrection through the eyes of an unbeliever.  You can watch the trailer here:

It’s hard to believe, but Easter is just around the corner!  It is March 27th, and it sometimes feels like it “sneaks up on us” when it lands in March.  It is only 45 days from today!  So be thinking about who the Lord who have you be praying for and inviting to our Easter service.

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 (Matthew 5:20)

This has always been a challenging statement from Jesus to me.  Once again, my devotional reading this morning was profound, and I want to share it:

May our righteousness exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees!

Well as you know, many in our church family have been hit pretty hard by the flu bug (or some kind of bug anyway).  Please be in prayer for our families as we all navigate through this.  I’d like to remind you that if you are sick, or you have kids that are sick, it would be appropriate for you to remain at home until you (or your kids) are feeling better.  I always want to encourage you to come to church!  But let’s do what we can to avoid any unnecessary passing of germs.  Maybe we should “fist bump” instead of shaking hands this Sunday!  At least make sure you wash your hands well after greeting one another.

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