Hello FBC Friends!
Yet the LORD set His heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.
(Deuteronomy 10:15)
Those of us following the same Bible reading schedule this year read Deuteronomy 8-10 today. There were many things that caught my attention, and that I underlined. But I focused in on 10:12-22, a beautiful statement from Moses exhorting the people of Israel to love, serve, and obey the Lord. I’d encourage you to read that right now (or as soon as you get the chance).
“‘And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you’ (v. 12)? Or, how should we respond to God’s gracious salvation? By loving God (v. 12) and by loving the sojourner/those in need/neighbor (v. 19). If we truly love God, then we will love what and whom He loves. Our response to God’s gracious salvation is in keeping with who God is, for He loves those in need (v. 18); and this is in keeping with an understanding of who
we used to be, for we used to be those in need (v. 19) before God saved us by His grace.” (Gospel Transformation Bible
)
This Sunday is Father’s Day! Make sure and honor your fathers and bless them men in your life who have had
godly
influence on you. This would also be a good time to pay extra attention to the fatherless, those who may be in need of a godly man to take an interest in them. There are many in our community, and some in our own church. Ask the Lord to use you to bless a fatherless child this week.
Pastor Justin will be preaching “A Father’s Legacy” from 1 Samuel 2:12-36. I’d encourage all of us to read that passage and consider what the Lord wants to teach us, specifically about fathers and sons.
This Sunday is also Pioneer Picnic in Brownsville. As I’ve mentioned before, Sharon McCoy is heading up the pancake breakfasts on Saturday and Sunday. If you’d like to help out, please contact her (or let me know and I can get you in touch with her). I also mentioned last week that
Lovica
Johnson is heading up the BBQ at the Picnic. They are needing volunteers to help with that. She mentioned that she would especially be grateful for help cleaning up after it is all over (between 2-4 pm or so I think).
I will be speaking briefly at the community church service at the Pioneer Park Pavilion, which starts at 10am Sunday. It is supposed to be a
one hour service. So as I’ve said in earlier messages, I think it would be great to have a number of us from FBC there at the service. Perhaps in the future we can have some of you participate in the service (singing a special song, playing an instrument, etc.). We may decide after this year’s picnic that we want to encourage everyone from FBC to come to the church service in the park, instead of holding a service at our church, like a number of the other churches in the community do. Or we may decide that it would be better to just go ahead and only have our service at our facility,
like we have been in years past. This year is a chance for us to check things out and determine how we want to proceed in the future. So thank you for being patient with the fact that we will be split up a bit this one Sunday! I do hope you will participate in one or the other, the park at 10am or at our church at 10:30.
A reminder to the men: there is
no monthly men’s breakfast this Saturday
, as we are encouraging everyone to consider participating in the pancake breakfast at the park (7-10am).
Grace and peace to you today and always!
Love From Your Pastor,
Michael