The Identity of Every Believer

When you put your faith in Christ you are a new creation, created in Christ Jesus.  You have been forgiven, saved and rescued.  You have new community, new family, new purpose and a new eternal destination.  You now live in right relationship with your creator.  In life we all have actions, we all do different things each day.  We think about different things each day, and we put our time towards different things each day.  As a new creation shouldn't our actions flow out of our new identity.  It is our gaol at Lebanon First Baptist Church to do just that... to live as committed faithful followers of Christ.  To live lives empowered and filled with the Holy Spirit so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.

It is my prayer that God would ignite in our church a desire and passion to seek and save the lost as we live the lives God has called us and empowered us to live.

Pioneer School Connection

Pioneer School is currently putting together a multipurpose room that will be used for counseling, family meetings, tutoring, and many other family oriented activities.  This will be a way for families who are struggling or in need of help to come to the school and comfortably meet and receive help from the schools staff.

What does this have to do with Lebanon First Baptist Church?

They are need of a few items to furnish the room.
- love seat
- a few small brightly colored area rugs
- toys for all ages (new or gently used)

Please share this opportunity with your home communities and see if we might be able to help out.  We want to actively seek to help our community for the sake of the gospel and pray that by helping with this new room families in need will be better provided for and windows of opportunity would be opened for the gospel to be proclaimed.

Let me know if you are able to help.

Thank You!

I want to thank everyone who helped make the BBQ a success.  A great time was had by all.

Home Community BBQ

FRIDAY

May 6th

6:30 PM @

CAMP TADMOR

If you are currently in a home community, want to be in a home community or just want to find out more about home communities you are invited to the first annual Home Community BBQ. Dinner, drinks and dessert will be provided, so just bring yourself and your entire family for a fun evening at Camp Tadmor!

Children of all ages are welcome, however there will not be childcare.

Need Directions? Click on the link below:

http://www.tadmor.org/directions

AHHHHHHH!!!!!! Am I Living In A Bubble?

In 1 John 2:14 it says, "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." So as Christians our response is to say... "The world is bad, I need to seclude myself from anything of the world and live in a cave and only talk to God and maybe other Christians... sometimes."

In John 17:18 Jesus says, "As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world." Unfortunately for the seclusion crowd the 'them' in this verse is well... them.

As Christians we live in a constant tension. We are not to be of the world or indulge in the world, but we also live in the world and we minister to people who live in the world. Too often Christians live in a bubble secluded from the people who need Christ the most.

Are you in bubble?

I want you to be thinking about practical, intentional ways that you can form relationships with people who need Christ. How can you get yourself into places in life, in Lebanon, in "the world" where you can share the love of Christ to those who need it most. Be praying about it... I have.

Family In Need!!!

As many of you may have heard there was a family in Lacomb this week whose home burned down. The family lost everything, and they are definitely in need. The Red Cross and Christ Walk have put them up in a hotel for now, but they truly lost everything except the clothes on their backs. I have received a list of things that they are in need of as well as clothing sizes. If anyone is willing and able you and your home community could help with groceries, gift cards, clothes, laptops, etc... I will list the sizes below as well as a link to the article that was in the paper if you have not already seen it. Let me know how you and your home community can help and I will help connect you with the family.

Thanks,

John

Newspaper Article

Items needed for family that lost their home to a fire, they did not have insurance. There were 2 families living in the home.

Female 35

Pants Size 6

Shirt Medium

Shoe Size 8

Female 34

Pants Size 2-3

Shirt Small

Shoe Size 7

Boy 13

Pants Size 14

Shirt Size 14

Shoe Size 8

Boy Age 12

Pants and shirt size 12-14

Shoe Size 7

Boy age 3

Pants/Shirt Size 3T-4T

Shoe 8 ½ toddler

Girl Age 10

Pant Size 8

Shirt Medium

Shoe size 3 ½

Girl age 12

Pant Size 12

Shirt Medium

Shoe size 5

A Call To Prayer

As we come to the end of our second week in the Gospel Centered Life I want to call you to prayer. By now the hype of starting a new series may have worn off and we enter into a time of being faithfully committed to learning what God desires to teach our church through this series. It is so easy to forget what God has called us to in our lives, and to revert back to a mentality of going through the motions. To show up on Sundays and your home community gatherings just to say you've been a part of the series. The truth of the matter is that we all need to be changed. We are all too stagnant in our faith. We all need to have a fuller understanding of the cross, and our need to actually share this good news with our neighbors, friends, co-workers, etc... It is at this time that I call you to prayer, pray that God would engage you to change. That God would transform you into a megaphone proclaiming the gospel. Pray that God would bring new Christians to the church not through others, but through you.

In Colossians 4:2-6 Paul writes, "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."


Pray that God may open doors of opportunity for you. Pray that you will proclaim it clearly, and make the most of every opportunity.


Praying for you.

The Gospel Centered Life Begins

This week we begin our series The Gospel Centered Life.  The groups that have already met this week are giving positive reviews.  The curriculum has provided a lot of thought provoking discussion and I am excited about the potential growth that will result from these next nine weeks.  I want everyone to be thinking about people you could invite to your home community who have not accepted the gospel.  If the gospel is going to transform every aspect of our lives then we must critically evaluate every interaction we have throughout each day.

I am praying for you!

Good News or Bad News?

If you had a choice between hearing good news or bad news which would you choose?  This may seem like a ridiculous question because for any living, breathing human being good news is always better then bad news.  Think of a time in your life when you received good news.  I remember when I was 16 I went to the DMV to get my drivers license.  I took the test and I passed on the first try.  I was so happy they took my picture and gave me my card.  It was so shiny and new and most importantly that card meant that I could drive myself around anywhere I needed or wanted to go.  Now that for me at age 16 was good news.  From that point on for the next few months I would tell everyone I talked with about my drivers license.  I was simply sharing the good news.  I was excited because my life had changed for the better.  People would say, "How's it going?" and I would respond, "I got my drivers license."  Whenever people have good news they love to share it.  Its easy, its awesome, there is no hesitation and so I wonder... what happened to Christians?  It seems like many of us have forgotten what Christ did for us.  We have forgotten the good news of our new found eternal security and forgiveness.  We treat the gospel like a one time get out hell free card when in fact the gospel is something to be excited about every minute of everyday.  Forgiveness, righteousness, a new life, new community and a new eternal destination are all parts of our good news as believers in Jesus Christ.

As we gear up for The Gospel Centered Life series lets remember that we have GOOD NEWS to share. When you are talking with unbelievers be excited and willing to share your good news.  The world that we live in is filled with bad news, and things will be like that until Christ returns so until that day lets share the only real good news worth sharing which is the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ.

Redeeming Every Opportunity

Colossians 4:1-6

"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone."

As I reflect upon the areas of my life where the gospel is not my number one priority I am reminded of the countless conversations I have had with people that I didn't obey the leading of the Spirit. I for one am as guilty as anyone for having pointless, meaningless conversations with people who need Jesus. Now I realize that part of having a relationship with anyone requires common interests that may be things other than Jesus, the Bible, or God... but how many times have I missed opportunities to share my story, or God's story with someone in the name of not being "religious"? If our church is being called back to the gospel, which radically changes who we are and what we're about then we need to redeem every opportunity for the sake of gospel. I love Paul's words here in Colossians as he himself desires to redeem every opportunity. He calls us first to prayer. We need to be praying intentionally for the people we interact with. The relationships we have with non-Christians are not an accident. Paul calls us to be watchful or alert, ready to share with others the hope that we have in Christ. Pray that God would open a door, pray that God would move and act in peoples lives. I love how Paul ends this section as he calls us to "be wise" in the way we act toward non-Christians. Remember today that we serve a risen King who will one day return to make all things right. In the meantime let's be reminded that we are on a mission filled with GOOD NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!

God Bless

Love One Another

In John chapter 13 Jesus, after washing his disciples feet said, "A new command I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."  If you have put your faith in Jesus Christ then you have been called to live life in a new way.  As human beings we naturally consider ourselves the most important person on the planet. This manifests itself in many different ways, but sadly enough we live in a narcissistic, selfish community.  When you were saved and brought into the family of God, you were radically changed and will continue to be changed by the gospel until you die or Christ returns.  As we participate in home communities we must remember to love one another as Christ has loved us.  We must be open, honest and transparent about our selfishness and be willing to serve and love the people in our home communities, church body and community.  Also, we are not just called to love one another for the sake of loving one another.  Jesus tells us that the world will look at our love and know that we have devoted our lives to Christ.  The fact that we are able to love because Christ first loved us.

This is GOOD news so desire to lay aside your own selfishness and love the way you have been called to love.

Home Communities

This blog has been designed to allow the church staff to communicate with the home community leaders and participants more efficiently and effectively.  I hope this will allow me to keep home communities up to date with announcements, encouragement and an ability to identify needs we have in the church and community that can be met through our home communities.

In Christ,

John McKay
Associate Pastor
Lebanon FBC
john@firstbap.org