First Baptist Church of Brownsville, Oregon

Hi FBC!

The LORD is righteous in all His ways and kind in all His works. (Psalm 145:17)

Isn’t that a great combination?  Righteous and kind.  He is both holy and merciful.  Perfect and gracious.  What an amazing God!  If He were not righteous, He would not be worthy of worship.  If He were not kind (and gracious and merciful), our unrighteousness, our unworthiness, would prevent us from being able to be in relationship to Him.  I’m glad He’s a “both/and” God, aren’t you?

This Sunday (at 9:00 a.m.) I will begin a new series on the book of Lamentations, called “Rivers of Tears.”  Come prepared with handkerchief!  No, seriously, I do hope you will come with heart prepared to hear what He wants to say to us through this often neglected book of the Bible.  What made God’s prophet so upset?  What things cause God grief?  Does your heart break with the same things that break God’s?  We’ll learn about these things in this series.  The first message is on chapter 1, called “What Have We Become?”  Please read the chapter before Sunday morning worship service.

Remember, we are going to work on a few memory verses together while studying Lamentations.  The first one for this Sunday is an easy one!  Lam. 1:18a – “The LORD is in the right, for I have rebelled against His word.”  Let’s try to say that together Sunday.

Also, thank you for your flexibility and understanding as we do a little summer experiment with the times of our services.  The morning worship is now 9:00 — 10:15, and Sunday School is 10:45 — 11:45.  I know there are a few things to work out, but the good news from last Sunday is, we had a record Sunday School attendance of 121!  Praise the Lord for that.  I hope you will join us for both the worship service and Sunday School this week.

Some important events are coming up in the near future, and there is information in the bulletin about them (so make sure you read it)!  But for a little heads up…

July 13 at 12pm – Quarterly Business Meeting

August 1-3 (or July 11-13 or Aug. 8-10) – Sons of Thunder Father/Son weekend at Camp Tadmor.  www.cbnw.org/events/sot

August 23 – “I Still Do” one day marriage conference at the Moda Center in Portland.  www.istilldo.com

August 24 – Noonish – Annual All-Church Picnic at the Miller’s Playground in Halsey. (Potluck, games, fellowship, etc.)

September 5-7 – Men’s Roundup at Tadmor.  www.mensroundup.com

Thank you for continuing to faithfully pray for First Baptist Church, its members and regular attenders and pastor, and our work of developing devoted disciples of Jesus Christ!  Please remember our 3 corporate prayer times on Wednesdays – 5am, 6am, and 7pm.

Praising the Lord for His righteousness and kindness!

Love From Your Pastor,

Michael

But the word of God increased and multiplied. (Acts 12:24)

There is no power like the power of the Word of God!  I hope you are making the Bible central to your life each day.  Please pray that the word of God will increase and multiply through the ministry here at FBC Brownsville!

Reminder: Remember that this Sunday we are making a change in our times for the summer.  Worship service will begin at 9:00 a.m., and Sunday School will begin at 10:45 a.m.  Looking forward to seeing you this Sunday!

Also, Micah and Heather Powers with Teach Beyond in Spain (one of the missionaries we began supporting this year), will be here with us.  Micah will be speaking for us.  They will be with us for Sunday School, and then there is a Potluck beginning around Noon, and the Powers will be with us for that too.  Please bring something yummy (like I had to remind you of that!) and be sure to join us.

Micah will be preaching on a number of different passages in 1 Peter.  He suggested two possible titles, “Aliens on a Mission,” or “Set Apart for a Purpose”, so take your pick!  (I personally like the first option!)  A passage that will be a good representative of what Micah wants to share is 1 Peter 2:9-17, so please read that ahead of time to prepare your heart for the message.

Read more…

But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. (Psalm 131:2)

How’s your soul?  How calm is it?  How quiet?  The above verse has a fascinating and powerful thought behind it.  What can we do to calm and quiet our soul?  It begins with our trust in the Lord, no matter what may be going on around us.  We need to understand: “He’s got this!”  Having a calm and quiet soul also must include breaking away from the “gerbil on the spinning wheel” pace of busyness many of us tend to live with.  We need to take the time to cultivate our walk with Jesus Christ.  We need to “be still and know” that He is God.  I think our corporate time of gathering together to worship our great God can also be impacted by this verse.  Each of us has the opportunity daily to calm and quiet our soul.  But once a week we gather together for worship, fellowship, teaching, encouragement, etc.  Why can’t we try to take a few moments before the worship service begins to actually prepare our hearts for what we are about to encounter – the presence of the living God in our corporate expression of worship!  I think we could all do a bit better at entering into that time like the psalmist – “I have calmed and quieted my soul.”  You may not think that this is that important.  But what about the others in the worship center who do?  Some are trying to pray and quiet their soul before we begin the service.  Let’s each be considerate of others, and try to not be a distraction.  I am so thankful that we are a church who loves one another!  And that we love to talk and fellowship.  But really, we have plenty of opportunity for that before and after the service.  We have the foyer; we have the fellowship hall (where we currently have the coffee).  We have 30 minutes between Sunday School and the worship service (starting June 22 that will be 30 minutes between the worship service and Sunday School).  So let’s use every opportunity we have (and maybe even create new ones by inviting someone over for a meal) to chat it up, to laugh, to catch up.  But let’s try to take the moments before we begin singing to calm and quiet our souls, and be conscious of others who are trying to do the same.  Spend a few minutes in quiet prayer.  Meditate on Scripture.  Listen to the beautiful prelude music.  Fix your eyes and minds on Jesus as we prepare to exalt Him.  Thank you!

Read more…

But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He thus fulfilled.  Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus,… (Acts 3:18-20)

I really like what the Life Application Bible says about verse 19: “John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus by preaching repentance.  The apostles’ message of salvation also included the call to repentance – acknowledging personal sin and turning away from it.  Many people want the benefits of being identified with Christ without admitting their own disobedience and turning from sin.  The key to forgiveness is confessing your sin and turning from it.” (Pg. 1949)  There is a great promise given to us when we do repent and turn to the Lord: times of refreshing will come from His presence!  Do you need spiritual refreshment today?  Repent.

This Sunday I will continue the “Family Matters” sermon series with a message entitled, “Communication or Conflict?” from Ephesians 4:25-32.  Please be sure to read that ahead of time.  I will specifically addressing communication within marriage, but of course these verses apply to every relationship, especially within the church.  We will look at some ways of communicating that we want to avoid (and the opposite ways which we want to pursue).  Looking forward to seeing you Sunday!

For those not involved in high school graduations this Saturday, there is an all-church workday from 9am-Noon.  We will be doing bark dust and other things to beautify our church yard.  Bring wheelbarrows, shovels, rakes, gloves, and be ready to put in some “sweat equity”!

Read more…

Yes, it does say Love From Your “Pastor’s Wife!”

First of all I want to say I love that title. I love that God has allowed me the privilege to be joined together with a godly man of God who has been chosen to lead His people.(Might I add that I believe we are with the best group of people at FBC.) So here goes.

But I say, walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16)

This was my devotional thought for the day.  I have been on a journey the past few months and God is really challenging me to “engage” in His word not just read it.  This has led me to “walk by the Spirit.” However, that said, this last week I have been struggling with my flesh. My flesh wants to sleep in, watch TV, and eat what I want when I want! It is pure selfishness.

Another area of pure selfishness is related to this weeks sermon “Wisdom for Wives” – Ephesians 5:21-24 . Sure, I loved last week, but honestly God revealed to me more about myself than just my husband.  But submission is an area that I have always cringed at.  I like my way!

In preparation for this weeks sermon I want us to do three things. One, pray. Pray that God would soften our hearts and prepare us for His amazing encouragement into our lives. Be ready to be refined. Two, read. Read the passage this week and be still before the Lord. Let His word speak to you. Lastly, I want to encourage you to listen to a podcast I heard last Saturday on “Focus on the Family” (before I even knew the sermon topic). Sara Horn does a great job in sharing what both her and her husband “thought” was submission and how they were challenged to look at  God’s definition of Biblical submission. Their marriage was good, but Sara wanted more. She wanted the blessings to pour out on their marriage. What a great picture! God wants to pour out blessings on our marriages!

So, don’t stay home!!! Pray that the enemy will not hinder you from coming. Prepare your hearts to hear from God. Plan to be challenged and blessed.

Wow, this sermon thing is harder than I thought.

Love,

Your Pastor’s Wife (aka:The honorable, reverend Mrs.)

…for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God. (John 12:43)

These religious leaders in John 12 apparently believed in Jesus, but were afraid to make that public because of their fear of what the Pharisees would think.  This is a common problem in our world – we worry more about what others think of us than what God thinks of us.  Don’t be a man-pleaser!  Be a God-pleaser!

This Sunday I will be speaking on Ephesians 5:22-33, especially focusing on 5:25.  The message is called, “Help for Husbands.”  Prayerfully read the passage in preparation for Sunday (especially husbands!)  Ephesians 5:25 is a verse we should all have memorized, guys, and we all need to ask the Lord to help us live it out!

I’m looking forward to a great Memorial Day weekend time of worship together.  Remember to thank the Lord for those who have laid down their lives for our freedom, and pray for the families of those who have lost loved ones in military service.  Thank a member of the military this weekend!

Don’t forget our new corporate prayer times  – Wednesday at 5am, 6am, and 7pm.  Let us pray!

Love From Your Pastor,

Michael

Praise the LORD!  I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation (Psalm 111:1).

Amen and amen.  The LORD is worthy of our praise!  We have so much to be thankful for.  He desires praise and thanksgiving with our whole hearts!  Let’s EXALT His Name together.  Looking forward to doing that this Sunday – and I hope YOU will be here!

I will be continuing the sermon series “Family Matters” with a message from Genesis 2:18-25 called “Wedding Bells in Paradise.”  We will discover three principles upon which successful marriages are built.  Please read the passage ahead of time to prepare your heart for the message.  I will especially “zoom in” on verses 24-25, so chew on those a little longer as you prepare for Sunday.

I know I keep recommending sermons and messages I hear on the radio, but I heard part of another good one from Chuck Swindoll today on PRAYER (I have his “app” for my smart phone, so I plan to listen to the whole message some time today!).  If you get a chance try to listen to that on the radio, online (Insight for Living), or get the “app”!

Speaking of prayer – We have started 2 new corporate prayer meetings on Wednesdays: one at 5:00am and one at 7:00pm.  Praying together as a church family is absolutely one of the best things we can do.  I am fully expecting that the little room we are currently meeting in for these prayer times will at some point not be big enough, and we will have to move down the hall to the large room!  Please help make that a reality!  “The family that prays together, stays together.”

Don’t forget the AWANA BBQ and Awards night this Sunday at 5:30pm!  Come celebrate with us a great year of training boys and girls to know, love, and serve the Lord Jesus Christ!  You’ll be encouraged by how much of God’s Word these kids have learned this year.  Hope to see you there.

Love From Your Pastor,

Michael

Praise the LORD!  I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart, in the company of the upright, in the congregation (Psalm 111:1).

Amen and amen.  The LORD is worthy of our praise!  We have so much to be thankful for.  He desires praise and thanksgiving with our whole hearts!  Let’s EXALT His Name together.  Looking forward to doing that this Sunday – and I hope YOU will be here!

I will be continuing the sermon series “Family Matters” with a message from Genesis 2:18-25 called “Wedding Bells in Paradise.”  We will discover three principles upon which successful marriages are built.  Please read the passage ahead of time to prepare your heart for the message.  I will especially “zoom in” on verses 24-25, so chew on those a little longer as you prepare for Sunday.

I know I keep recommending sermons and messages I hear on the radio, but I heard part of another good one from Chuck Swindoll today on PRAYER (I have his “app” for my smart phone, so I plan to listen to the whole message some time today!).  If you get a chance try to listen to that on the radio, online (Insight for Living), or get the “app”!

  Read more…

… but I give myself to prayer. (Psalm 109:4)

We are starting 2 new weekly prayer times at FBC Brownsville tomorrow!

1) Every Wednesday, beginning May 14, from 5:00 – 6:00 a.m.

2) Every Wednesday, beginning May 14, from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. (there is a possibility of changing this to 6pm in the future, but tomorrow it will be at 7pm for sure)

Come join us!  We will meet in Room 1 of the new classroom addition.  For the morning session, Lord willing, I plan to come early and have coffee ready.  So stop by the kitchen and get a cup if you want, then proceed to the classroom.  If the room gets too crowded (which would be fantastic!), then we will move down to Room 3 (the larger room).

We will pray for requests that people have written down on Sunday, for any requests you bring to us, for our missionaries, for people in our “oikos”, for our church leadership, for our church’s direction for the future, and for whatever else the Holy Spirit brings to our hearts.  I don’t intend for us to spend a long time discussing requests, but to spend the large majority of the time in prayer.  You can bring your Bible and pray Scripture.  You can come and just silently agree in prayer.  Or you can come and pray out loud.  We will pray short prayers, so everyone who wants to can have a chance to pray out loud.  We will pray loud enough for us all to hear so we can agree together in prayer.

Come thirsty! (John 7:37-38)

Hopefully we’ll see you tomorrow!

Love,

Pastor Michael