Hello FBC!
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for He has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
(Hebrews 13:5)
There were many powerful things in my reading of Hebrews 11-13 today, including the “Hall of Faith”
in ch
. 11 and my favorite Scripture of all-time, 12:1-2! But I was led to write 13:5 in my journal. Probably first because this verse is a reminder that I always need for my own life. But secondly perhaps because I would be writing about it to you today.
Both a challenging command and a wonderful promise are included in this one verse.
First we are told to keep our lives free from love of money. That’s so important, but so difficult to do in our culture (probably in any culture really). But that command to be content is tied to His promise that He will never leave us or forsake us. We are ultimately to be content with what we have,
because He is really all we need!
It is fitting for us to consider this passage today as we prayerfully prepare for this Sunday’s annual special offering for missions! We have a wonderful opportunity to be a blessing to 3 very worthy causes. What a huge joy it was this past Sunday to see the mobile pregnancy center unit parked on our basketball court, which is one of the projects we gave toward last year! This year we’d like to support Beth Arends, who works tirelessly with international students at OSU. Beth is a dear sister who has faced with great courage some major challenges physically, financially, and spiritually in recent years. We’d like to be a source of encouragement to her. We also want to continue our support of the Haiti Foundation of Hope, and especially right now as they deal with the aftermath of another devastating hurricane that has impacted so many lives. And we would love to be able to help as many people as possible (especially our young people) when they desire to serve on a short-term mission trip, by being able to offer generous scholarships.
We will receive 2 offerings this Sunday: the first will be the regular general fund offering. Please continue to faithfully and generously support the ongoing ministries of the church and our missionaries. The second will be this special offering just for these three missions projects. They will be at
seperate times in the service, so please listen to the instructions this Sunday! You can designate your special offering for whichever project you’d like, or just give a general amount to the whole offering and Global Outreach Commission will divide the money appropriately. Last year we received over $7,600 for this offering. I believe that we can definitely top that this year! So let’s make it our goal to give at least $8,000 for this special offering this year! By God’s grace
we can do it!
By God’s providence, I forgot something at home this morning and had to run home to get it. When I jumped in my truck, I happened to hear Alistair Begg on the radio, speaking from Nehemiah 10 about this: “how the Israelites radically restructured their finances as an act of worship.” Please take the 25 minutes to listen to what he has to say by clicking the link below:
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY FBC!
Yesterday (November 16) was officially the 163rd anniversary of the founding of FBC Brownsville! I’ve heard “old” people referred to as “long in the tooth.” Well, perhaps we should consider FBC, “long in the truth!” Sorry, couldn’t help myself! 🙂 Let’s thank the Lord together for His faithfulness to our church over so many years, and for His use of us in the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the proclamation of His Word!
I am very thankful that this Sunday Pastor Justin will continue in our series in Colossians by preaching on “Finding Life” from Colossians 2:16-19. It’s not the easiest passage in Colossians, but he’s diligently working to prepare, and he said there’s definitely a lot to say about it! Please read the passage ahead of time and come with hearts prepared to hear from God’s Word this Sunday.
Men:
This Saturday is our monthly Men’s Breakfast at 7am! Please come for a good time in the Word and in Fellowship, and in the “breaking of bread” (or pancakes and eggs)!
“Grace be with all of you.” (Heb. 13:25)
Love From Your Pastor,
Michael