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Greetings, everyone, and Merry Christmas! We enjoyed gathering for Christmas Eve candlelight service this week, and I hope everyone had a blessed Christmas yesterday. We will gather for the Lord's Day tomorrow. Bible study for all ages meets at 9:30 am and corporate worship is at 10:40 am. If you are not yet a part of a Sunday morning Bible study, come and join us!
THE LORD’S DAY WORSHIP will be framed around the following Scriptures. Take a few moments to read, meditate on, and pray through these Scriptures as we prepare for assembling tomorrow: Call to Worship: Psalm 148 Old Testament: Isaiah 61:10 - 62:3 New Testament: Galatians 4:4-7 Assurance of Pardon: Jeremiah 31:33-34 Sermon Text: Luke 2:21-24 Fighter Verses: Revelation 21:5-7 Benediction: Numbers 6:24-26 THIS WEEK Tuesday, Dec. 29 Join us at 9 am in the Fellowship Hall to help take up the carpet and linoleum in preparation for the new flooring. Wednesday, Dec. 30 On our last midweek service of the year, we will be spending a generous portion of our time in intercessory prayer for our world, our nation, our state, our community, and our church family. Please join us live or via ZOOM at 6:30 pm. Thursday, Dec. 31 We are tentatively planning a New Year's Eve Game Night depending on how many folks would like to do it. Starting time: 7 pm; Ending time: ? (Let me know if you are interested in coming). COMING UP January 2, Bible Quiz Competition Pray for our Bible Quiz Team ("Contagious") as they compete in the first quiz of 2021 next Saturday, 12:30 to 4:30 pm. If you want to watch the competition, it is located at Journey Baptist Church, 5708 King Hill Avenue in St. Joseph. Prepare to wear a face covering if you attend. January 3, Observance of the Lord's Supper during the morning worship service. Take this next week to begin preparing spiritually for this continuing ordinance of the church that causes us to look back on the vows we took at baptism and to renew those vows together. I have attached a list of starter questions to help you prepare for this special service. January 12, 6:30 pm, St. Joseph Baptist Association Board Meeting will be at the Baptist Mission Center, 4608 Mitchell Avenue in St. Joe. Our church is one of 45 Southern Baptist churches in this part of northwest Missouri and northeast Kansas who voluntarily cooperate to carry out the Great Commission together, pooling resources and people to do so. Please pray for the work of ministry and mission and for our Director of Missions, Bro. Roger Brumley, as he works to coordinate the effort. ICYMI here is the audio of Last Sunday’s Message from Luke 1:67-80 "Child of Love." If you are looking for the video, find it here on our YouTube Channel. READ THROUGH THE BIBLE At the end of the year, I always encourage you to read through the Bible in a systematic way. All types of plans are available: chronological plans, one-year plans, two-year plans, dated plans, undated plans. The plan you choose is not the important thing; the important thing is that you are intentional about doing it. Here is a blog post entitled 21 Bible Reading Plans for 2021 that has numerous suggestions. One of them is called the Five Day Bible Reading Plan which I am going to print off and have available for those who would like to join me in using it. Bible reading plans work best if you have a partner, someone with whom you are accountable in your reading plan. Whichever plan you choose, know that the purpose is to get you into God's word in 2021, and to get God's word into you. Visit the website for more up-to-date information! See you in church! Grace and peace, Pastor Greg
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Greetings, everyone! We are approaching the fourth Sunday of Advent, which means Christmas is truly right around the corner. "Let ev'ry heart prepare Him room, and heav'n and nature sing..."
TOMORROW is THE LORD’S DAY! "Day of every day the best, emblem of eternal rest." As you prepare for the day of worship, take a few moments to read, meditate on, and pray through the Scriptures which will frame our corporate worship. Click anywhere on the link for a full, printable version of the Scriptures from BibleGateway: FIGHTER VERSE: Revelation 21:4 CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 89:1-4:19-26 OLD TESTAMENT: 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16 NEW TESTAMENT: Romans 16:25-27 ASSURANCE OF PARDON: Isaiah 53:4-6 SERMON TEXT: Luke 1:67-80 BENEDICTION: Numbers 6:24-26
LOTTIE MOON CHRISTMAS OFFERING for INTERNATIONAL MISSIONS amount given to date is $955. Praise the Lord, and thank you for giving! How about $1000 or $1500? Pray about what the Lord would have you give, then give freely and cheerfully. Every dollar, dime, and penny of this offering goes to support our IMB personnel on the field; none is used for administrative or overhead costs. FELLOWSHIP HALL FLOORING COMMITTEE recommended resurfacing the fellowship hall and kitchen area with hard-surface, wood-like polyvinyl flooring. In our special business meeting, we voted to authorize a combination of memorial funds and undesignated funds on hand to complete the project, estimated at about $10,000 including labor and materials. At this writing, $7,819 of the need has been met through memorial and designated giving. Praise the Lord! If you would like to give to this project, simply write "Flooring Project" on an envelope with your gift enclosed. Thank you so much to all those who have given already!
OFFERING ENVELOPES are available in bundles of 25 at the rear of the sanctuary for your convenience in giving for 2021. THIS WEEK
COMING UP December 27: Birthdays and Anniversaries recognized at the end of the service. Birthday offerings go to support Missouri Baptist Children's Home and anniversary offerings go to support The Baptist Home, Missouri Baptists' home for the aged. Visit the links to learn more about both of these vital ministries. January 3: We will be observing the Lord's Supper in our morning worship service. Begin preparing for that service through prayer and self-examination. ICYMI Last Sunday’s Message Luke 1:46-56 The Song of Mary Here are the sermon notes for that message. FIGHTER VERSE bookmarks will be available in the narthex beginning next week. If you want a headstart, follow this link to the Fighter Verses for 2021. This is Set 1 of the FIghter Verses. BONUS: It comes as no surprise to anyone reading this that the sexual revolution has had far-reaching consequences for our entire society and culture. It is of particular relevance to us as Christians trying to live out the Biblical worldview. The Biblical worldview is countercultural in its essence, but it has become more so in the last few decades. Carl Trueman has written an important book which will be on my list to read this year entitled The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self, and Al Mohler takes the time to interview him about this book on his most recent installment of Thinking in Public. (just over an hour) Have a Merry and Blessed Christmas, and see you in church! Grace and Peace Pastor Greg Greetings, everyone! As we approach the third week of Advent, just a whole lot of information in this week's update to absorb. Some of these items are more consequential than others, but I have given them here in no particular order. Take your time, read, and be blessed. Blessings to you!
FELLOWSHIP HALL FLOORING COMMITTEE recommended resurfacing the fellowship hall and kitchen area with hard-surface, wood-like polyvinyl flooring. In our special business meeting, we voted to authorize a combination of memorial funds and undesignated funds on hand to complete the project, estimated at about $10,000 including labor and materials. A little less than half of that amount will be from undesignated funds which we will ask our members to give towards repaying over the next several months. This project will enable us to have a much cleaner and sanitary environment when we start up regular meals and midweek ministries again. Praise the Lord! AED (automated external defibrillator) is located on the wall in the foyer next to the cloak room. This unit and ones like it were provided to the churches of DeKalb County by the local health board. While the unit is self-explanatory when used, we will seek to provide training on the unit in the near future. We will keep you posted, but for now, just know that it is available in case of an emergency when seconds are precious. MACH 4 MEN'S MINISTRY will meet at Hopewell Baptist on Saturday at 6 pm. We will begin with a meal, have a devotional message, and discuss any upcoming ministry projects. All men and boys are invited to attend. ANNUAL BUDGET PROPOSAL: This Sunday morning, the first draft budget proposal for 2021 will be distributed to those in attendance, along with a brief explanation. The 2021 budget proposal from our Stewardship team is essentially the same as the 2020 budget with slight increases under personnel and missions. The overall recommended increase is 4%. We will discuss it during the member meeting Sunday evening at 6 pm. Any questions should be brought at that time or directed to Stewardship chairman Russ Wright before the meeting. After discussion, the final version will be tabled until Sunday morning, December 20, when it will be brought to a vote of the members assembled. OFFERING ENVELOPES are available in boxes of 100 at the rear of the sanctuary for your convenience in giving for 2021. We also have a limited supply of 25-envelope bundles for those needing fewer envelopes. DEACON ELECTION Having been nominated according to the process set forth in our church's by-laws, Randy Morrow, David Ousley, and Chet Owen have each agreed to serve a 3-year term as deacon beginning January 1, 2021. Each man's service is contingent on receiving the affirmative vote of the church body gathered in conference on Sunday evening, December 13, at 6 pm. CHILDREN'S CHRISTMAS PROGRAM Preschoolers through 6th graders will present a Christmas program during the first half of morning worship service this Sunday (Dec. 13) under the direction of Dava Hackett. Come out and support our children as they present the story of Jesus' birth! MARTHA SPIERS CARD SHOWER As most of you are aware by now, Martha Spiers, our church secretary of more than 30 years, is retiring from that position. We will be honoring her and her service at the conclusion of the morning service on December 20, Lord willing. What we are asking of the congregation is to bless her with a card shower. Share your appreciation, thanks, and tokens of esteem by means of a card that morning (or if you are unable to be here that morning, get it to your Sunday School teacher beforehand). We will be recognizing her during the service, of which she is aware. However, the card shower she is not aware of, so let's keep that part discreet until the time of recognition. (Also, if you get The Pathway, the Missouri Baptist news journal, they did a story on Martha, and it should come out in the next issue of the paper). LOTTIE MOON CHRISTMAS OFFERING for INTERNATIONAL MISSIONS amount given to date is $360. Our church's baseline goal is $800, but I think we can do better than that this year. How about $1000? How about $1500? Pray about what the Lord would have you give, then give freely and cheerfully. Every dollar, dime, and penny of this offering goes to support our IMB personnel on the field; none is used for administrative or overhead costs. ADVENT DEVOTIONAL: Last Sunday, I shared with you the devotional booklet The Peace and Promise of Christmas: 10 Christmas Reflections from Our Daily Bread (click on the link if you prefer the online version). Our family has been using these devotionals during our family worship over the past week. I have been impressed with their depth, especially given their brevity. One of the bonuses is a series of brief videos that the author, Bill Crowder, has done to complement each of the ten reflections. If you want to quickly link to each one, I have provided the list here. Each one is 2 or 3 minutes in length: go.odb.org/Christmas-1 go.odb.org/Christmas-2 go.odb.org/Christmas-3 go.odb.org/Christmas-4 go.odb.org/Christmas-5 go.odb.org/Christmas-6 go.odb.org/Christmas-7 go.odb.org/Christmas-8 go.odb.org/Christmas-9 go.odb.org/Christmas-10 BONUS:
See you in church! Grace and peace, Pastor Greg I know, I know. You're probably thinking, "Pastor Greg, it's just the second week of Advent. How can it be looking a lot like Christmas?" Well, even if you aren't thinking that, I want to explain what I mean. On Tuesday, our decorating team decked out the sanctuary and narthex with Christmas greenery, poinsettias, garland, candles, etc. They always do such a great job! Add to that the quilted banners that tell the story of Jesus' birth so well visually, and that is why it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas at First Baptist! I hope that you will be able to be with us for Bible study and corporate worship.
TODAY please pray for our Bible Quiz team "Contagious" as they compete in monthly quizzing today in St. Joseph. Roughly 25 teams will be competing with questions and quoting from the Gospel of Matthew. Pray that all the teams will do as well as they possibly can and that God is glorified in the process. If you want to watch any of the quiz competition, go to Journey Baptist Church, 5708 King Hill Avenue in St. Joe between 12:30 and 3:30 pm and find our team. THIS LORD’S DAY we will gather for Bible study for all ages at 9:30 am and worship at 10:40 am. If you aren't in a Bible study group, this is a great time to join one as we move into a new quarter of study. For our adult classes using the Explore the Bible curriculum, this will be the Gospel of Luke. During the worship hour, our time together will be framed by the following Scriptures. Take a few moments to read, reflect, meditate, and pray through them. Click anywhere on the link to read the entire : Fighter Verse: 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 Call to Worship: Psalm 85:4-13 Old Testament: Isaiah 40:1-11 New Testament: 2 Peter 3:8-15a Assurance of Pardon: Psalm 85:1-3 Sermon Text: Luke 1:26-38 Benediction: Numbers 6:24-26 THIS WEEK
COMING UP
ICYMI Last Sunday’s Message "Mayday!" on Luke 8:22-24 with Guest Missions Speaker Scott. BONUS
Visit the website for more up-to-date information! See you in church! Grace and peace, Pastor Greg |
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