Hello FBC Friends,
For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
(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:
“Jesus’ teachings and actions complete the law. He did not ‘come to abolish the law’ but to fulfill it… Scripture is secure, without error. God’s law – His instruction – like all His Word, is imperishable… He teaches the law by instructing His disciples (us!) to do the right things for the right reasons, not from fear of punishment or calculation of gain, but from love of God and neighbor… When Jesus says, ‘unless your righteousness exceeds… you will never enter the kingdom’ (Matt. 5:20), He doesn’t teach salvation by works. Jesus demands righteousness, but He also supplies it for us by His death and resurrection (Matt. 26-28)… Disciples surpass scribes by grasping the heart, not just the ‘manageable’ external code of the law (Matt. 5:21-48). Disciples surpass Pharisees by living for the divine audience, not the human, and by seeking God’s kingdom and righteousness (Matt. 6).” (Dan Doriani, ESV Men’s Devotional Bible, pg. 1103)
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.
As you also most likely know, our church received a very substantial financial gift a few months back. In December we voted on the idea of designating half of that gift for local and global missions, and half for our local church. That did not pass with a super-majority, so we’ve decided to go back to try and figure out together what the Lord would have us do. Of course we as elders have been praying a lot about this. And we’ve asked you to pray about it as well. But it occured to us that we have not gathered together to corporately seek God’s face together regarding this matter. So we have schedule a special all-church prayer gathering to specifically, together, ask for the Lord to guide us and clarify for us how He wants us to use this gift to glorify Him. Please mark your calendars for
Tuesday, March 1, at 6:00pm.
This will NOT be a “meeting” to discuss our ideas. We plan to schedule a time for that later. But March 1 will be one hour of all of us praying together and seeking His will. Please plan to be here! Even if you are uncomfortable praying out loud in a group, just come and agree silently with us in prayer! Let’s see how the Lord might use this to draw us closer to Himself, and closer to one another as a church family!
Thank you for your continued prayers for our Associate Pastor of Family Ministry search task team. We have completed a second skype interview with a candidate and his wife which went very well. The team decided, with agreement from the elders, that the next step in the process is to bring them here to meet us personally, check out Brownsville and the surrounding area, and visit the church. This will be a chance for them to “explore” and decide if they are comfortable moving forward with us. They are not candidating at this point. He will not be speaking at any services or events, and there won’t be a question and answer time. Those things will be saved for another time if/when we sense confirmation from both ends (ours and theirs) that this is the direction the Lord will have us go. But it will be an opportunity to meet them and for them to learn a bit about us. We are hoping for a weekend in March, perhaps the first or second weekend, but nothing is nailed down yet. The search team plans to share another update Sunday morning during the worship service. Keep up the prayers!
This Sunday we will continue in our series in Titus:
God Our Savior
, with Titus 1:10-16. Please consider reading that passage ahead of time and think through the importance of confrontation and rebuke of those who try to spread false teaching in the church. It is a vital passage, though not an easy subject. Why do you think Paul would speak to Titus so strongly about this issue?
I’m looking forward to our baptism service on Feb. 21! Right now we have 2 candidates for baptism. If you would like to be baptized, please contact me ASAP!
Lastly, this morning I heard a portion of what sounded like a great Focus on the Family program with an interview with Lee Strobel. He has authored numerous books, but his most recent is called “The Case for Grace.” I’m pasting the link here so you can listen to it at your convenience if you didn’t hear it already. Good stuff!
Grace to you, and peace, from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!
Love From Your Pastor,
Michael